


Body & Soul

by NakedOwlMan



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Alien Sex, Bodyswap, Gangbang, Masturbation, Multi, Strip Tease, Vibrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-27
Updated: 2013-01-27
Packaged: 2017-11-27 02:15:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/656962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NakedOwlMan/pseuds/NakedOwlMan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Several of Shepard's squadmates have their minds swapped, and find out what it's like to live in someone else's body</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Kink Meme fill - original prompt at http://masseffectkink.livejournal.com/3083.html?thread=6299659#t6299659
> 
> So, I wrote a bunch of fills thinking that Ashley was going to be made a Spectre in-between ME2 and ME3, including this one... yeah, that didn't happen. So just pretend it did while you read my smut.

"Keelah," Tali breathed as she turned the corner. The light on the end of her shotgun illuminated the darkened hallway in front of their party, stretching out to show twisted and bloody remains.  
  
"Fucking batarians," Jack said. "Whatever's in this place, they must want it pretty badly."  
  
Jane Shepard nodded, trying to hold back her anger at the gruesome sight in front of them. A few hours ago, Liara had sent the Normandy a message, asking them to check in on the research facility on Lohanaker. Several of her associates from her days of researching Prothean artifacts worked there, she explained, but the facility had suddenly gone dark, shortly after sending out a distress call mentioning incoming batarian ships.  
  
And now they knew why. Jane dreaded the thought of telling Liara about this, and wondered how many of her friends were among the unarmed asari that lay sprawled across the floor in bloody heaps.  
  
"Miranda," Jane said, struggling to keep her voice even and calm. "Any sign of the attackers?"  
  
"No motion or life signs detected within 50 feet," replied Shepard's XO in her thick Australian accent. "They must have moved on to another section of the facility."  
  
"It doesn't make any sense, Shepard," Tali said, kneeling down to gently shut the eyelids of one of the dead archaeologists. Her tone was caustic as she spoke. "Asari slaves fetch such a high price in the Terminus Systems, after all. They could have easily captured these woman and made more credits than they'd know how to spend. Why slaughter them?"  
  
Shepard frowned, distant memories of screams and gunfire from Mindoir echoing in her mind. She was well practiced at blocking out such thoughts, however, and her mind soon returned to the mission. "Whatever brought the batarians here must have been bigger than a slave run."  
  
"Commander!" Miranda raised her voice. "I'm reading motion!"  
  
"Where?" Shepard asked, and as soon as Miranda provided the answer, she and the rest of the team proceeded down the hallway, weapons at the ready.  
  
* * *  
  
It was supposed to be an easy first mission. A bunch of asari egg-heads studying rocks out in the middle of nowhere suddenly drop off the radar, just check in and make sure everything was five by five. Even if the distress call was correct, and batarians had attacked, how many could there be?  
  
"Should have brought back-up," muttered newly minted Spectre Ashley Williams, as she watched the security footage on the monitor in front of her. In the footage, at least eight batarians moved slowly and methodically down the hallway, shooting screaming women in the back as they went.  
  
It was too big for her, Ashley knew this immediately. She should call for a team, somebody to back her up. But would they even be able to make it in time? If the batarians were still here, it was only a matter of time before they found her. No, as frightening as the prospect was, she was on her own for this.  
  
She remembered Eden Prime, her team cut down around her, that utter certainty that she was going to die. Horizon, and feeling herself being frozen in place by the Collectors, watching as they flew away with the helpless colonists. Shepard wouldn't be here to bail her ass out this time. No, all she had to rely on was herse...  
  
"Don't move!" cried out a voice behind her, and after getting over the initial surprise, Ash had to fight the urge to laugh. It was fucking uncanny.

* * *  
  
"Ash?" Shepard said, lowering her pistol and gawking at the armored female in front of her. Her hair was out of the tight bun she normally wore it in, instead hanging loosely to her shoulders. It looked good, although Shepard wouldn't dare say something like that to Ash's face.  
  
"Just can't get out of the habit of running into you, can I?" Ashley said, and although her tone seemed friendly, there was a slightly bitter undercurrent to it. "So, still marching to the Illusive Man's orders?"  
  
Shepard didn't let the pain show in her face. Apparently, the anger and hurt Ash had shown on Horizon hadn't dampened in the months since. "I'm not working with Cerberus anymore, Ash."  
  
"Really?" Ash said, nodding toward Miranda. "You still seem to be keeping the same company as the last time we met."  
  
Miranda narrowed her eyes at Ashley. "I'm following Shepard now, Lieutenant."  
  
This brought a scoff from Jack. "Yeah, right. Once a Cerberus bitch, always a Cerberus bitch."  
  
Tali quickly interjected herself into the tense conversation. "Ash, trust us, we're working on our own now. Liara sent us to check on her friends, and we found this slaughter instead. We're thinking it was batarians."  
  
Ashley pressed a button and restarted the security video she had been watching. "Whatever they came here for," she said, "they aren't messing around."  
  
Shepard watched the video, her face grave. "Ash, you shouldn't have come by yourself. You need a team for something like this."  
  
"I can handle myself, Shepard," Ash said, trying her best to hide the lie in her tone. "I don't always need you to swoop in and save the day, you know."  
  
"Still, Ash, we're here, and we can help. Don't let the past drive you to do something stupid."  
  
Ashley stared at the ground, and finally let out a frustrated grunt. "Fine. I could use the manpower to cover the whole facility, anyway. If we're going to find these batarians before they clear out of here, we'll need to split up."  
  
"Agreed," Shepard said. "Tali, go with Ash. Jack, you're with Miranda."  
  
"The fuck you..." Jack started to blurt out, but the look Shepard gave her said in no uncertain terms that this was not the time to piss her off. "Fine, fine."  
  
Tali turned her masked face to Shepard. "What about you?"  
  
"I'll head out on my own," Shepard said. "If I see any sign of the batarians, I'll radio you all right away. Same goes for everybody else, you understand?"  
  
The rest of the women nodded, and they left the security room and went in different directions.  
  
* * *  
  
God, she hated every second of having to be around this bitch. Jack watched the cheerleader strut her way down the hallway in front of her, her jumpsuit clinging to that perfect little ass of hers. Little Miss Perfect Genes, acting like she was so superior to everyone all the time, while still whining about how her life was just so hard. "Ooh, I'm just too sexy, and my tits are so big that it's all the boys care about! What a hell my life is!"  
  
For a split second, Jack pictured herself raising her shotgun, taking the cheerleader off guard and putting a slug right in the back of her head. "The batarians snuck up on us," she would say to Shepard, putting just the slightest trace of a sob in her voice. "Just when I was starting to like her, too."  
  
But no, Shepard was too smart for that. She'd never get away with it. So Jack kept playing the good soldier, searching the facility alongside her bitterest rival, visions of Miranda's misery her only solace.

* * *  
  
Shepard headed north through the facility on her own, her mind whirling as she went. After Horizon, it had been a long time since she had managed to put Ashley out of her head, and now here she was again, and all the memories were flooding back to her.  
  
It had been just after the Council had sided against her and taken the Normandy away from her. Her only chance of stopping Saren yanked from her hands, Shepard had wanted to scream as she forced herself through the chore of packing her gear from her personal locker. The risks they had taken, Kaidan's death... all of it had been for nothing.  
  
Somebody walked in behind her. "I hate being right," Ashley said, and Shepard had let out a frustrated laugh. Before she knew it, Shepard was spilling out all of her frustrations at their situation. The stoic, take-charge commander went away for a while, replaced by the very human woman underneath. And after listening to her vent her feelings out, Ashley had calmly assured her commanding officer that she believed in her, and trusted that she would figure out a way from them to succeed.  
  
Up to that moment, Shepard had been ready to give up. But seeing Ashley's faith in her, her trust that Shepard would find a way to be the hero and save the day, it filled her with a confidence she didn't imagine herself capable of.  
  
Ashley had reached out a hand to help Shepard to her feet, but Shepard stumbled slightly on the way up, and found herself right next to the surprised Gunnery Chief.  
  
And since that day, Shepard had spent countless hours wondering if she had imagined that moment of hesitation on Ash's face as Shepard had leaned in. That split second of acceptance in her eyes that Shepard could have sworn was there as she had moved in for a kiss.  
  
But it didn't matter. Ashley had been gentle about it, assuring her that if she had been into women, that Shepard would be her first choice. They had parted awkwardly, and from then on Shepard kept herself focused on the mission. Saren first, and then all the missions that followed. Forcing herself to forget what had happened, to put aside whatever pointless feelings she had for Ash and keep her mind focused on more important things.  
  
But now, even in the midst of such danger, seeing Ash again was taking all of Shepard’s attempts to suppress her feelings, and blowing them away into dust.  
  
* * *  
  
"Ash, what's going on between you and Shepard?" Tali finally worked up the nerve to ask. The question seemed to hit Ash like a jolt of electricity.  
  
"Let's talk about it later," Ashley said, not looking back at the quarian as she swept her assault rifle across the darkened hallway. "Shouldn't be talking right now with enemies in the area."  
  
This only silenced Tali for a moment, however. "We found something past the Omega 4 relay. Something that Cerberus wanted desperately, to use against the Reapers and their other enemies. But Shepard destroyed it rather than let it get into Cerberus hands. She's not working with them, Ash, you can trust her."  
  
"Look, Tali, I don't want to talk about this right now," Ash insisted.  
  
Tali sighed, remembering how Shepard had been after Horizon, Ash's harsh words still ringing in her ears. On the shuttle ride back, Tali had to force herself not to reach out to her commander, take the woman who'd led her through so much danger and death unscathed and hold her tight, tell her how she felt about...  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted by the distant sound of an explosion. She jerked to look at Ash, who nodded. The two of them quickened their pace toward the sound, Ash getting on her radio to let the rest of the team know.  
  
After several minutes of running, they reached a left turn in the hallway, puffs of smoke drifting from around the corner. Ash planted her back against the wall and glanced around to see two batarians arguing with each other.

"Dammit," said one, staring at the scorched door in front of them. "That's three now! There's no damn way we're getting through this door with these bombs!"  
  
"We'd damn well better," the other one snapped. "Boss says the artifact is in there. We don't get this open, he's gonna have our heads."  
  
Ash held a hand up to Tali, telling her to wait, as the two batarians kept talking. "What the hell is this thing supposed to be, anyway?"  
  
"No clue. Boss just said some merchants who did a supply drop here said the asari bitches were keeping it under tight security, and that it must be some sort of powerful weapon or something. Said nobody was even supposed to go in this room without the highest security clearance."  
  
"We've only got a few more charges left," the first batarian said. "Should we wire up another one?"  
  
"Yeah, and make it quick. Boss'll be back before too long, and..."  
  
"Go," Ash hissed, and she and Tali spun out from the corner to point their weapons. "Freeze!" she called out. "Make one move and you're dead!"  
  
Batarians being the idiots they were, of course one of them went for his gun. The concentrated fire of the two weapons made short work of him, but the other one, instead of grabbing his gun, placed a hand to his neck.  
  
"Enemies at the artifact room!" he yelled into his radio. "Backup, send backu..." were his last words before Tali's shotgun blast struck him in the chest.  
  
"Shit," Ashley said, hearing the distant sounds of boots in the distance. They wouldn't be able to run, and there was no cover at all in the hallway; they'd be sitting ducks against a larger force.  
  
There was only one place where they had a shot. Looking past the bodies, Ashley saw the blackened security door. "Tali, I hope you're still as good with locks as you were two years ago," she said.  
  
"Better," Tali said, getting to work on the locked door, as the sound of the charging batarian forces grew slowly louder.  
  
* * *  
  
"Shepard, you and your people better get to the east corridor double-time, or we're dead meat," said Ashley's voice through the radio. Shepard was already sprinting down the hallway.  
  
"Miranda?" Shepard said into her radio.  
  
"We're on our way, Shepard," said Miranda's voice. "We're closer than you to their location, we should get there first."  
  
Jack's smirking tone chimed in. "Hurry up, Shepard, or there won't be any squints left for ya."  
  
Shepard cut the connection and kept running.  
  
"Dammit, Ashley," Shepard thought to herself. "So many times I've kept you alive, don't let this be the time I fail."  
  
* * *  
  
"Almost there," Tali said, her three fingers flying across her omnitool. "Should be... dammit!"  
  
"What?" Ashley said. The sound of charging batarians couldn't have been more than fifty feet away.  
  
"I damaged the lock," Tali said, her tone frustrated.  
  
"So we can't get in?" Ashley said, and as if in response, the door slid open.  
  
As the two of them dashed inside the room, Tali hit more buttons on the glowing hologram across her wrist, and the door slid shut. "I can lock the door again, but it won't be nearly as secure as it was before. Any decent tech will be able to hack it in a matter of minutes."  
  
"Well, at least it gives us some time to find some cover," Ash said, getting her bearings on the room they had entered.  
  
It was like the other rooms in the facility, white and austere, filled with a bunch of instruments Ash couldn't even guess at the purpose of. But the defining feature of the room stood in the center.  
  
"What... is that?" Tali breathed, their dire situation momentarily forgotten.  
  
It reminded Ash a bit of the Prothean beacon they had encountered on Eden Prime, although much smaller, only about five feet tall. The same unnatural glow and hum, however, emanated from the strange artifact. The more she stared at it, the harder she found it to look away.  
  
"It's... so beautiful," Tali breathed, and oddly enough, Ash couldn't help but agree. Even though it didn't seem all that remarkable at first, something about it was compelling her to step toward it. Shepard, the batarians, everything was forgotten except this unknown device in front of her.

At the last minute, Ashley remembered Kaidan, stepping up to the Prothean beacon just as the two of them were now. This thought broke the spell of the device, and Ash turned to grab Tali by the shoulders.  
  
"Tali, don't..." Ash said, just as the humming sound grew louder, and the light filled the room. Ash felt herself falling to the ground, and then everything was black.  
  
* * *  
  
Miranda and Jack came in behind the batarians, just as they were about to open the security door at the end of the hallway. The enemies' numbers were superior, but without any cover they didn't stand much of a chance against the combined force of the two biotics’s abilities and guns. Jack held the last enemy suspended in the air for several seconds, a silent taunt on her face as she sent a shotgun blast between his two pairs of eyes.  
  
Once the enemy was defeated, it didn't take long for Miranda to get the security door open. "Tali!" she cried out as she saw her teammate collapsed on the floor inside the room. Kneeling down, she shook the quarian's shoulders. "Tali, are you okay?"  
  
"Fine, I guess," came a voice from behind her, and Miranda looked around in confusion. Ashley was sitting up, rubbing at her head. "What happened, I was..." Ashley's voice caught in her throat as she saw Jack walk past her, shuffling toward the Prothean device as if hypnotized. "Wait, stop!"  
  
Moving away from Tali, Miranda ran toward Jack, her hand gripping Jack's wrist.  
  
"Let go!" Jack exclaimed. "It's mine, I'm not going to let..." Her angry retort was cut off by the sound of the device flaring up again.


	2. Chapter 2

"Oh, no," Shepard felt like her heart was stopping in her chest as she entered the room to find her teammates collapsed to the floor. After the initial panic, however, she noticed the lack of blood or armor damage. Stepping forward, she crouched down beside Ashley, laying a gentle hand on her cheek. "Ash, wake up."  
  
"Shepard, what's going on?" Ashley asked her, and Shepard wondered to herself why her old comrade was speaking with that odd accent. Before she could ask, she saw Ash's eyes go wide. "Shepard, look out!" she cried out, shoving Shepard down just as gunfire rang out.  
  
The still-breathing batarian who had fired the shots let out one last gurgling gasp, before slumping back down to the floor. Shepard was quick to get back to her feet and check all the bodies for any more signs of life, before returning to her stunned squadmates.  
  
"What the fuck was that?" asked an unfamiliar voice. Shepard turned to see Miranda rising unsteadily to her feet. When she spoke again, Shepard did recognize the basic sound of her voice, but unlike Ashley, she was speaking without a trace of an accent. "That thing started making noise, and next thing I knew..." Miranda stared down at her chest and let out a gasp. "Oh, fuck, no."  
  
"Shepard, be careful!" said another familiar yet strange voice from her left. She turned to see Jack pointing her shotgun at Miranda, her voice coming out with a thick Australian accent. "I think that device made some sort of clone of me. I'm the real Miranda; that one's a fake!"  
  
A synthesized voice let out a sad sigh. "It didn't make clones," came Tali's voice, and by this time Shepard wasn't surprised to hear her lack of an accent. "That device must have... switched our minds somehow, Skipper."  
  
"I'm the fucking cheerleader?" Miranda... no, Jack was saying. "No, fuck this, let's fire that thing up again and fix this, right now..." Jack looked to her right and her jaw dropped.  
  
Shepard followed her gaze to see the Prothean device letting out a few last sparks, the bullets from the batarian's last shots having pierced through its metal surface and shredding its interior. As the five confused women watched, the light it had previously been emanating slowly started to fade.  
  
"Shepard," Tali said as she struggled to maintain her balance in Ashley's body, "I think you'd better get in touch with Liara. As soon as possible."

* * *  
  
Shepard had to give Liara credit. Even with the news of the death of her friends at the facility, she still kept her composure as Shepard had described the sudden change of perspective her teammates had experienced.  
  
"Fascinating," Liara said, after instructing Shepard how to forward her the research notes from the facility. "I've never heard of a Prothean device like this before in my years of research. It's no wonder they kept it under such tight security."  
  
"So what are the chances you can fix this thing?"  
  
Liara shook her head. "I'm sorry, Shepard. I spent most of my adult life studying Prothean technology, but I couldn't even begin to explain how to replicate it. Repairing the device is completely out of my depth."  
  
"So we're fucking stuck like this?" Jack spat out, grabbing a handful of Miranda's hair and giving it a yank. "I gotta look at this bitch's face in the mirror for the rest of my life?"  
  
"At least I haven't covered my body in graffiti," Miranda said, her refined accent mixed with Jack's voice providing a very strange effect.  
  
Jack sneered. "You think that's bad? Wait until we get back to the Normandy, I can't wait to break out my tattoo kit and start working on a new fucking canvas."  
  
"Shepard, we need to restrain Jack!" Miranda turned to Shepard, a trace of fear in her voice. "She can't be trusted to be let loose with my body."  
  
"My body now, bitch," Jack said, leering as she gripped one of her breasts and gave it a rough squeeze. "You heard her, we can't fix this thing."  
  
Liara raised her voice to be heard above the argument. "Not so fast. I've had a chance to look over some of the research notes you sent over. Apparently, they did some pyjak testing with the device, and found that there was another way to switch the minds back, independent of the device."  
  
"What was it?" said Ashley, fidgeting around in her new body, rubbing at the tight suit she was now confined to.  
  
"That, I haven't been able to find yet. Most of the files regarding the project are encrypted, I'm afraid," Liara said. "Nothing I can't manage, but I'm afraid it might be a couple of weeks."  
  
"Weeks?" Miranda and Jack both exclaimed.  
  
Liara rubbed at her neck. "I'm sorry. The Shadow Broker may have had access to some of the most advanced equipment in the galaxy, but there's a lot of data to decrypt here. I promise you, I'll get in contact with the Normandy as soon as I have an answer."  
  
"We appreciate it, Liara," Shepard said. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to save your friends."  
  
"It's alright, Shepard," Liara said, and her voice took on a chilling tone as she added. "My contacts have already given me the name of the mercenary company those batarians were part of. The ones you killed today... they're the lucky ones."  
  
Shepard shuddered as she ended the transmission.  
  
"So, what happens now?" Ashley said, walking toward Shepard slowly, getting used to her new, alien anatomy.  
  
"Now, we go back to the Normandy," Shepard said. "And you're going to have to put a call in to Alliance Command, let them know you won't be checking in for a little while. I know you've probably got duties as a Spectre, but until we get this fixed, I'm afraid you're going to be flying with us."  
  
Ashley hated having Shepard giving her orders, but she had no other choice. She held up one of her three-fingered hands and sighed. "I always used to wonder how Tali managed to deal with living in a suit like this all the time. Guess I get to find out."  
  
"Tali," Shepard said. "When we get back, you'll need to..." Shepard turned to find she was addressing empty space. "Tali? Where'd she go?"  
  
"She said she was going to go on ahead to the shuttle, that we should catch up," Miranda said, crossing her arms across her bare torso and shivering.  
  
Shepard nodded, understanding dawning on her. "You three finish searching the area. I'll go get the shuttle ready."

Making her way through the facility back to the entrance, Shepard stepped out onto the surface of Lohanaker. It was a temperate planet, and the research facility had been built in the middle of a grassy clearing, surrounded by thick forest.  
  
It didn't take long for Shepard to find her. Like Ash, Tali walked slowly in her new body, getting used to the feel of a radically different physiology. But the look on her face was definitely not pained or awkward.  
  
Shepard watched as Tali crouched in front of a small patch of brightly-colored flowers. Slowly, unused to the feeling of five-fingered hands, she plucked them from the ground, one after another, until her hands were filled with the bright petals. After a moment's hesitation, she took the pile and brought it to her face, inhaling deeply.  
  
"Keelah," Tali whispered, and Shepard watched as tears streamed down Ashley Williams's face. Tali put the pile to her face again, and when she pulled her hands away, petals clung to her wet cheeks. Tali smiled widely, even as her shoulders shook with sobs.  
  
After a few moments, Shepard must have shifted slightly, because Tali gasped and whipped her head in Shepard's direction. "Shepard, I..."  
  
"We'll be getting ready to leave, soon," Shepard interjected. "But if you want some more time..."  
  
"That's okay, Shepard," Tali said, giving her an awkward smile. "I probably shouldn't get too used to this, after all. Once this is fixed, I won't be... well, I should get back to the shuttle, start teaching Ash all my suit functions."  
  
Stumbling, Tali brushed past Shepard in the direction of the shuttle. Shepard remained for several seconds, staring down at the damp, discarded pile of flowers on the ground, before turning and following after Tali.  
  
* * *  
  
"Oh, my," Liara said as she read the document again, making sure she had been correct.  
  
"What is it?" said Feron as he approached her from behind. "You find something in the research notes?"  
  
"A few documents have been decrypted, nothing with a solution to our problem yet, but this..." Liara moved aside to allow her drell companion to see the terminal.  
  
"'Pyjak research has demonstrated strange side effect of Artifact X-38,'" Feron read off the screen. "'Stimulation of nerve endings involved in mind transference seems to magnify test subject libido to uncontrollable levels.'" Feron blinked with both sets of eyelids. "That mean what I think it means?"  
  
Liara accessed an attachment to the document, and let out a gasp as a video began to play. A large cage containing several pyjaks was on the screen, and inside the primate creatures were engaging in frantic acts of copulation. Those animals that weren't madly humping away at the nearest orifice were vigorously stimulating themselves, and the cage shook so hard that it threatened to topple over.  
  
"You don't think..." Feron asked, starting at the video with wide eyes.  
  
Liara considered, but shook her head. "The crew of the Normandy aren't pyjaks, Feron. I'm sure they can control themselves."  
  
"Still, shouldn't we send a message to Shepard?"  
  
"I don't think it'll be necessary," Liara said. "The Shadow Broker's cameras on the Normandy are still functioning?"  
  
"Last time I checked."  
  
Liara turned to face Feron with a crooked smile. "Well, we'll monitor those recordings closely. Keep an eye out for any... abnormalities."  
  
Feron smiled back. It looked like a new set of vids were about to inserted into their late night viewing. As the hands of the mysterious Shadow Broker drifted under his waistband, Feron reflected that the Normandy wasn't the only ship with a magnified libido problem to deal with.

* * *  
  
"Remarkable," said Mordin in his usual clipped pace, studying a display and stroking his chin. "Never seen anything quite like this. Complete rewiring of electrical impulses in brain. Physical brains not swapped, thoughts simply transferred from one brain to another."  
  
"So, I suppose that means you're not going to be able to fix this either, then," Shepard said, watching Jack and Miranda glare daggers at each other's bodies inside the research lab.  
  
Mordin shook his head. "Sorry, science like this utterly beyond my abilities. Will have to wait until Dr. T'Soni conducts further research."  
  
"Okay, so it looks like we're stuck with this, for a little while at least," Shepard said. She stared over at Jack, who had wearing Miranda's jumpsuit half open, the constrictive outfit obviously uncomfortable on the normally half-naked convict. "Jack, I'm going to trust you to treat Miranda's body with respect until we can get this fixed. The second I hear you've made so much as a mark on her, we'll chain you to a wall for the next few weeks. Am I understood?"  
  
Jack gave a casual shrug. "Wouldn't be the first time I'd been chained up," she said, but off of Shepard's serious look she added, "Okay, fine, I'll treat the cheerleader's perfect genes just like they were my own, alright?"  
  
Shepard turned her attention to Miranda, who'd thrown on a worn leather jacket plundered out of Jack's private wardrobe to cover up. "I've informed the crew of the situation, and unless you have any objections, I'd like to resume your duties as XO."  
  
Miranda nodded. "Not a problem, Commander," she said, Shepard still unable to get over hearing Jack's voice speaking in Miranda's distinctive accent. "As soon as we're done here, I'll return to my office."  
  
"Luckily there aren't any pressing matters for us to deal with," Shepard said, "So for now we'll just patrol for a while. We'll stick close to this area, though, in case Liara needs to head back to the facility for anything."  
  
"Very well, Shepard," Miranda said. "If there's nothing else..."  
  
Shepard nodded. "The two of you are dismissed." She turned to a wall panel and spoke aloud. "EDI, could you send Tali up here?" She paused and added. "Uh, I mean Tali in Ashley's body, not Ashley in..."  
  
"I understand, Commander," said the AI. "I'll let her know you wish to see her."  
  
* * *  
  
"I finally get it," said Jack as she and Miranda left the lab.  
  
Miranda knew Jack was probably baiting her in to something, and that she should ignore her. "Get what?" she finally asked.  
  
"Why you're such a bitch all the time," Jack said with a smirk.  
  
"Jack, this situation is aggravating enough. Let's not get into this right now."  
  
Jack let out a low chuckle. "Fine, fine. Just one question, though: how long's it been anyway? Couple months? A year?"  
  
"How long since..." Miranda saw the look in Jack's... her own eyes and turned away in disgust. "This is pointless."  
  
"I mean, goddamn, princess. Ever since I landed in your body, seems like all I can think about is finding a nice stiff cock and..."  
  
Miranda raised a tattooed finger in the air. "Don't you dare, Jack! You heard Shepard."  
  
Jack rolled her eyes as she brushed past Miranda. "Whatever, little miss perfect. I'll be down below, taking matters into my own hands. Unless you want to come down and stop me from doing that, too."  
  
The thought of Jack playing around with her body made Miranda want to heave, but there wasn't much she could do. She was forced to watch as her own body strutted away, Jack giving her ass a little shake as she stepped into the elevator.

Something about Jack's words, though, brought a note of disquiet to her. When Jack had started taunting her about her bodily urges, Miranda had been tempted to throw it back in Jack's face, and mention the... anxiousness she had felt coming from Jack's own body when they had first been switched. Despite Jack's accusations, Miranda hadn't been feeling particularly in the mood for romance in the recent months. But in this new body, suddenly Miranda was finding it difficult to focus on anything else.  
  
"Fine," she thought to herself. "Two can play at that game." Her pace to her office hastened ever so slightly, her unfamiliar fingers twitching in anticipation of what was to come.  
  
* * *  
  
It felt weird to ask "How's Ashley?" to the person walking into the room, considering everything her senses were telling her said it WAS Ashley walking in, but Shepard had already resigned herself to the fact that the next few weeks were going to be very, very strange. She only hoped that Liara's predictions were correct, and that she'd find an answer to their situation.  
  
"It's... been a bit difficult for her," Tali said, slowly rubbing at her forearms with her hands. "Quarians have their whole lives growing up to learn how to use their suits. Ash is going to have to learn all that in a few days if she's going to keep my body alive."  
  
"I've got some crew members working on setting up a clean room on the Normandy," Shepard assured Tali. "If things go badly and we have no other option, we can put Ash in there until the situation is resolved."  
  
Tali nodded. "I think she'll be okay for now. I ran her through the most important things, feeding herself and dealing with suit ruptures. She... was a bit resistant as far as waste disposal went, but I made it clear to her that it was a lot easier than having to decontaminate every time you needed to use the restroom."  
  
"Ash is strong, she'll make it through this," Shepard said. "What about you, Tali? How are you holding up?"  
  
The question struck Tali off-guard. "Good, I guess. I mean, it's nice to see what it's like to be out of the suit, but sometimes all I can think about is what it's going to be like when this get fixed, and I have to go back to the way things used to be. I mean, before I knew I was missing out on so many things, but now that I know what it actually feels like to feel the air on my skin, to smell Rupert's cooking..."  
  
Shepard gave Tali a warm smile. "Tali, don't worry so much about when it's going to end. Just take the time and enjoy it while it lasts."  
  
"But it's not my body, Shepard," Tali protested. "Using Ashley's body like this... it doesn't feel quite right."  
  
"Tali, Ash is your friend, right? I think that she'd be happy to know you're getting a chance to experience life out of a suit through her."  
  
Tali gave her a warm smile, and Shepard felt her heart skip a beat. It had been so long since Ashley, the real Ashley had smiled at her like that. "Maybe you're right, Shepard. I need to appreciate what I have right now, and enjoy it while it lasts." She held up her hands and wiggled her fingers. "Even if I'm still not sure why you humans need all these extra digits. How can you get anything done with all these things in the way?"  
  
"We manage somehow," Shepard said with a laugh. "Go, enjoy yourself while we're not out risking our necks."  
  
Tali started to leave, but then paused. "I did have one other question, Shepard. Something... a little personal, I guess."  
  
"Whatever you need, Tali. It'll just be between us."  
  
Tali rubbed her hand across the back of her neck. "Well, it's just... I'm not really that familiar with the way human bodies work, I guess. And... well, I..."  
  
"That's something I have a lot of experience with, myself," Shepard joked. "What is it, Tali? You're beet red!"  
  
"It's just... since my mind went into Ash's body... do humans normally... I mean, do you always feel this...?" Stammering for a little while longer, Tali finally shook her head. "No, never mind. Forget I asked."  
  
"Tali, wait!" Shepard called out, but she was already darting out of the door, leaving Shepard to wonder what could have gotten Tali so embarrassed.


	3. Chapter 3

Kenneth Donnelly ran the back of his arm against his forehead. He'd forgotten how much work being an engineer on the SR-2 had been before Tali had showed up. With her around, everything had been tuned and optimized to such an extent that he and Gabby mostly spent their time doing routine maintenance on systems that were already running at peak capacity.  
  
But now this freaky situation had cropped up, and now he and Gabby were on their own again. Tali had tried, of course; even with Shepard relieving her of her duties until she was back in her own body, Tali had still snuck down to "check on a few things." But the unfamiliar anatomy she was working with was causing Tali too many issues, and when she almost caused a minor coolant leak, she finally admitted that she wasn't up to the task, and left the Normandy back in the hands of the original engineers.  
  
At the moment, Gabby was off dealing with several electrical system problems elsewhere on the ship, leaving the engine room under Ken's watch. Which meant that as soon as he saw the blinking light on the console in front of him, he let out a groan.  
  
"Dammit, you piece of rickety garbage! You couldn't have held out for another few hours?" he cursed to himself. Normally, it was a coin flip between him and Gabby whenever something needed to be fixed below decks. At least if she had been here, he'd have a 50% chance of not having to tiptoe his way around Jack's temper.  
  
Resigning himself to it, he stepped away from the panel and headed out of the engine room. Admittedly, part of him was somewhat curious about what was going on with Jack, with her brain now in the body of their comely executive officer. Part of him was hoping that Jack would go back to her normal outfit; the thought of Miranda's bust being held back by nothing more than a few leather straps would be enough fuel for several late night spank sessions.  
  
He'd been so wrapped up in his perverted thoughts, it wasn't until he had completely descended the stairs that he realized the moans he had been hearing in his head weren't just in his imagination.  
  
Jack was currently reclining back on her cot, the zipper of Miranda's jumpsuit lowered as far as it would go, and her fingers working frantically between her legs. Too shocked to move, Ken watched with slack jaw. Seeing the vision of his uptight, professional superior officer masturbating furiously was so utterly surreal, Ken was beginning to wonder if all of this was just some elaborate dream he was having.  
  
"Dammit," he heard Jack mutter in Miranda's voice. "Three times and still I'm fucking horny? Cheerleader, you REALLY need to get laid." Freeing one hand from her dampened crotch, Jack reached up under the black silk of Miranda's bra. She gave a hard yank, and Miranda's ample breasts sprang free.  
  
"Fucking hell," Ken heard himself say, before remembering his current circumstances. Jack's eyes snapped up, and Ken tried to make a dash for it, but his feet tangled up under him and he tumbled to the floor.  
  
As he turned back onto his back, he was looking up at an angry Jack, looking fearsome despite being nearly naked. "So, grease monkey, did you get a good peek?"  
  
"No, no, I didn't see anything," Kenneth babbled. "I'm sorry, I was just down to... to..." Shit, what had he come down here to fix again? The bare breasts in front of him, heaving with every breath Jack took and gleaming with lustful sweat, were wiping all coherent thought out of his mind.  
  
Jack saw his stare and smirked. "Genetically perfect, she says. Don't know about the rest of her, but you can't argue with tits like these, can you? You wanna have a feel?"  
  
"No, not at all," Ken lied, as he struggled to his feet.  
  
"You think I don't hear you two talk up there?" Jack asked, thrusting her chest out to put her bust even further on display. "Think my forward tanks need an inspection, Engineer. That's an order from your Executive Officer."  
  
Ken hesitated, still not sure if Jack was baiting him into giving her a reason to rip his throat out. "It... wouldn't be right."  
  
"But you'd better do it," Jack said, her tone brokering no argument. "Or I'll tell Miranda about your little peeping session when we get switched back, see how she feels about you checking out her tits."

Before Ken could protest further, Jack reached town, gripped his wrists hard, and drew his hands up to cup Miranda's breasts. Even as he was fearing for his life, Ken could feel a tightening in his uniform as he felt the warm, heavy mounds in his palm.  
  
"Yeah, that's it," Jack said, and Ken tentatively began to rub the tits in his hand, Jack making low moans as he went. "Feel up those big, perfect tits. This is your big shot, buddy. You think that uptight little bitch would ever let any guy, let alone you, do this shit to her?"  
  
Getting daring, Ken shifted his hands to let his thumbs rub against Miranda's stiffened nipples. Jack reacted to this with a low, appreciative moan, one of her hands returning to Miranda's dripping crotch, rubbing slowly and sensuously.  
  
"Give her what she needs," Jack's voice was low and filled with unrestrained lust. "You wouldn't believe how fucking horny she is. The poor thing must have to get herself off ten times a day if she's usually this charged up." Ken felt her other hand creep into his uniform pants. "I ain't uptight like Miranda, though. I need some cock... I go out and get it."  
  
And when her fingers wrapped around his manhood, any thoughts of backing out disappeared from Ken's mind. By the time they were finished, he had Jack bent over the workbench, thrusting deep inside of her while she desperately threw her hips back against him. She let out a prolonged cry as he felt his own release about to come, but just before he felt his orgasm oncoming, Jack rapidly withdrew from him, only to spin around and kneel at his feet, grabbing his aching cock and jerking it into her face.  
  
"Fuck, yeah," Jack moaned, as Ken's load sprayed out across her face and breasts. "Cum all over that perfect little bitch's face, make her look like the whore she wants to be." Opening her mouth, she aimed a long strand of jism down her throat. Swallowing, she grinned wickedly. "Hope she gets a taste of that when she gets back in her own body."  
  
Shakily donning his uniform, he returned to the engine room to find Gabby there, hands on her hips, an unhappy expression on her face.  
  
"I can't believe you," Gabby lectured him, obviously having heard his activities below decks. "Taking advantage like that."  
  
"I'm only a man, Gabby," Ken said, trying his best to return to work. "And she wouldn't take no for an answer."  
  
"Really, now," Gabby said. "Maybe I ought to see what Miranda thinks about your little adventure below decks."  
  
Ken whirled to look at Gabby. "You wouldn't!"  
  
"Maybe I would," Gabby said, and there was a subtle change in her expression. "But I could be convinced otherwise. Sounded like Jack was really enjoying herself down there. Makes me wonder if maybe I've been missing out on something all these years."  
  
Ken let out a nervous chuckle. Seems an engineer's work was never done.  
  
* * *

Ashley leaned forward on the table in the Normandy mess hall, trying to ignore the stares she was getting. Shepard had told the crew about the situation, so the whole ship knew that it wasn't Tali'Zorah sitting there, but a Council Spectre and Alliance officer. There was a slight fear in their eyes, a suspicion of this unfamiliar individual wearing the skin of one of their friends. But mostly it was curiosity, the phenomenon that the unique Prothean artifact had created. She felt like a lab rat, being put on display for a bunch of scientists to poke and prod.  
  
Just as she had made the decision to go to her quarters, to be by herself, someone joined her at the table.  
  
"It's really you in there, Ash?" Garrus said, his tone jovial. "Still got this idea that Shepard's having a laugh at us with this whole 'body-switching' story of hers."  
  
"You hear me laughing, Garrus?" snapped Ash, slouching back in her seat. Seeing Garrus's stare, she sighed. "Sorry. It's been a rough day. Certainly not how I expected my first real Spectre mission to go."  
  
"Well, 'having your brain put into somebody else's body' doesn't usually appear in most Turian battle plans either," Garrus said. "And we're the type to make contingency plans for brain-eating corpse invasions, so I doubt I'd be doing much better in your shoes."  
  
Ashley held her head in her hands. "I knew, I just knew when I saw Shepard again, that everything would get all screwed up again. Dammit, why did it have to be her?"  
  
"Ash, at the risk of being punched by a quarian, I have to ask... what's the deal with you and Shepard?" Garrus leaned back and regarded his old teammate. "I signed on, Tali signed on. We paid a visit to Wrex on Tuchanka, and he was as friendly as... well, as a krogan can get, I suppose. Liara's teaming up with us in her own way. Everybody trusts Shepard but you. I just don't get it."  
  
"Yeah, you all trust her, because Shepard tried to find you. She made the effort to track you down; I had to stumble on her by accident."  
  
"Anderson wouldn't tell us your location, Ash. If Shepard could have, I know she would have come to you first. But she had to make do with what she had."  
  
"But it..." she ran all of her old arguments through her head, but they all seemed so inconsequential. "Maybe you're right. I guess that after Shepard died, I just had gotten this image in my mind of her as this perfect person, the kind who always worked to do the right thing, and would never accept help from people as tainted as Cerberus. To have her walk into my life again out of the blue like that, and with a Cerberus emblem on her uniform..."  
  
Garrus gave a quick laugh. "Those assholes put that logo on everything on this ship. Always kinda thought it was weird for a black-ops terrorist organization to want to advertise itself like that, but what do I know?"  
  
"Seriously, here, Garrus. Think about it from my perspective. For all I knew, Cerberus planted some sort of control device into her when they brought her back from the dead. She might have been some sort of clone they created, the real Shepard still lying dead on a slab somewhere." Ash hesitated before saying, "Hell, even now, how can I be absolutely sure that this is the same Shepard I served with two years ago?"  
  
"You want my advice?" Garrus said. "I know that Tali keeps mission logs on her suit's computer systems. Why don't you watch those, see what sort of stuff we've been up to on the Normandy SR-2. I think after that, you won't have any trouble trusting that this is the real Commander Shepard that you remember."  
  
Ashley nodded. "Maybe I will. Thanks, Garrus."  
  
"Who knows? After this is all over, maybe we can team up again, just like the old days," Garrus said as he got up to leave. "But even if that doesn't happen, it was good to see you again, Ash."  
  
She forced a laugh. "Yeah, maybe next time we meet, I'll actually be in my own body."  
  
"Fates willing," Garrus agreed, before departing.

Ashley got up as well, heading toward the quarters Shepard had reserved for her while she was stuck here on the Normandy. She'd watch Tali's mission logs, both to see what Shepard had been up to, and also as a much-needed distraction.  
  
Ever since she had found herself in Tali's body, she'd been feeling more and more unsettled. She didn't recognize the sensation at first, but as time had passed, it became more and more obvious that she was really, really horny.  
  
She supposed it made sense, Tali being stuck in this suit all the time, she wouldn't have much of an opportunity for release. Ash guessed that maybe after a while, quarians got used to the constant urge to fuck. But she had only been a quarian for about a day now, and if she didn't find something else to occupy her mind soon, she was about to go insane.  
  
So she walked briskly to her quarters, the feeling of Tali's suit clinging tightly to the junction between her legs only making the situation work.  
  
* * *  
  
After an hour of fruitless self-abuse failed to relieve the urgent pleas from her crotch, and a few cold showers did nothing to dampen the sensations, Miranda decided to walk around the ship. Maybe a little exercise would keep her mind off of Jack's raging lusts.  
  
She was better than this, she told herself. Maybe Jack was a slave to her body's cravings, but she was still Miranda Lawson, even inside this body. She didn't get to where she was today by letting trivial things like a little horniness draw her mind away from her duties.  
  
As she walked down the hallway, she bumped into Tali, the quarian still walking a little unsteadily inside Ash's human body. "Tali, what's the hurry?"  
  
"No hurry, really," Tali said, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot. "Just running off to a meeting with Kelly. Have a few things on my mind, a few... well, I feel like I need to talk to someone."  
  
"I'm sure she'll be able to help," Miranda said, watching Tali fidget. The poor thing looked like she was ready to jump out of her skin, which made a bizarre sort of sense now that she thought about it.  
  
Nodding, Tali brushed past Miranda toward Kelly's office. And it was about twenty seconds later that Miranda realized she was staring at Tali's ass as she walked away. Well, Ashley's ass really. Taut and toned from years of strenuous exercise. You could bounce a quarter off an ass that tight.  
  
"Get a hold of yourself, Miranda," she said to herself. She decided to steer her steps toward the elevator and head down to engineering. If there was one thing that would take her mind off of sex, it would be to check up on Jack, make sure she wasn't subjecting her body to too much abuse.  
  
When the doors opened to the engineering level, Miranda saw Ken and Gabby approaching, Gabby looking like she was leading Ken by the hand. When they saw her, both of them instinctively flinched at the sight of Jack, before remembering who it really was and relaxing.  
  
"What brings you down here, Miranda?" Ken asked.  
  
"Just checking up on Jack," Miranda answered. "Making sure she's not dragging a knife across my body or doing anything else inappropriate."  
  
For some reason, this caused Gabby to giggle, while Ken stared at the floor. "What?" Miranda asked.  
  
"Nothing, she's been good," Gabby said. At once Miranda understood. Jack had said she'd planned to go back to her bunk and play with herself, and Miranda supposed she wasn't exactly quiet about it. Made sense that Gabby and Ken would want to clear out and give her some space. Miranda would have to chat with Jack about that; she couldn't keep scaring off the engineers every time she wanted to have a wank.  
  
After Gabby and Ken departed on the elevator, Miranda started toward the door to the engine room, when she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder.

"There you are!" said a slurred, British-accented voice behind her. She turned to see Zaeed, grinning drunkenly. "Was wondering where you were. You ready to do this?"  
  
"Do what?" Miranda said.  
  
Zaeed stared at her with squinting eyes. "You having a go at me? What's with the accent?"  
  
"What do you... wait, you heard the ship-wide announcement, right?"  
  
Zaeed laughed. "Kinda remember Shepard blathering on about something over the PA a while ago. Was too busy tying one on to hear it, though. Look, just stop screwing around with me, here. Let's get back to my quarters, already."  
  
"Look, I'm not..." Miranda started, and then realized that there was no way she was going to convince Zaeed that she wasn't really Jack. Trying her best to adopt Jack's style of voice, she said, "Look, I've got things I gotta do right now. Why don't we talk about this later?"  
  
"So that's your game, is it?" Zaeed said with a heavy sigh. "Fine, we'll do this the hard way."  
  
And before Miranda knew it, Zaeed had lifted Jack's slim body up and draped it over his shoulder. "Hey!" Miranda cried out, as Zaeed began walking toward the cargo bay where he'd set up his quarters. "Cut it out! I'll..." she tried to put as much of Jack's fire into her voice as she could, "I'll kill you, I swear it!"  
  
Zaeed responded by giving her a firm slap on the ass. "The 'playing hard-to-get' act is getting old, Jack. I've never heard you complaining about this arrangement before, so how about you cut this out so we can get to it."  
  
Once they were inside, Miranda kept yelling at him to stop, but Zaeed was single-minded in his purpose. He placed her on her feet on the ground and, in one smooth motion, gripped the waistband of her pants and whipped them off, her panties coming with them to the ground, leaving her completely bottomless.  
  
"Wait, no," Miranda cried out, realizing in horror what Zaeed and Jack's "arrangement" was. She backed away from Zaaed, only to trip over her pants and land ass-first onto Zaeed's desk.  
  
"Now we're talking," Zaeed said, kneeling down and spreading Miranda's thighs wide open.  
  
"Stop, this is..." Miranda said, just before Zaeed's tongue made contact with her clit. The feeling of it was like a jolt of electricity directly to the pleasure center of her brain. "Oh... no, I can't... I shouldn't..."  
  
Zaeed looked up from her crotch. "You want me to stop?"  
  
"Don't you fucking dare," Miranda said with Jack's characteristic anger. Grabbing the back of Zaeed's head, she directed it back down between her thighs. "Oh, fuck, that's so fucking good." Distasteful as it was to her, she put herself into the mindset of Jack. "Eat that fucking pussy," she cursed, the feel of Zaeed's tongue against her throbbing clit, his grimy fingers working their way between her pussy lips, making her feel absolutely filthy. "Yeah, you taste that fucking cunt, lick up every drop." Miranda wiggled her hips as Zaeed went down on her, removing her hands from his head only to whip off her jacket and shirt underneath, tugging on the rings Jack had attached to her stiff nipples.  
  
Just as her orgasm was about to hit, Zaeed pulled away. "What the fuck are you doing?" Miranda said, managing to keep her imitation of Jack's accent up despite her surprise.  
  
"Think I've done my part, love," Zaeed said. Reaching for his zipper, he dropped his pants to the floor to reveal an impressive erection. "Your turn to return the favor."  
  
This gave Miranda pause. Zaeed had taken her by surprise with the (frankly quite amazing) cunnilingus, so she could be forgiven for not putting up the proper resistance to the idea. But was she willing to go this far? As much as she hated Jack, it was her body, and to do something like this with it was completely and totally wrong.  
  
But the sight of that throbbing cock in front of her, and the thought of having it penetrating her, was blocking out all rational thought. Before she knew it, she was on her knees, gripping Zaeed's manhood by the shaft and wrapping her lips around the tip.  
  
"Oh, hell," Zaeed said as Miranda started working her mouth up and down his shaft. "You've been learning some new tricks there, love."

Miranda probably didn't have as much experience as Jack did in giving head, but what she lacked in training she definitely made up for with eagerness. She worked her tongue around the tip of Zaeed's shaft slowly, letting her saliva coat his veiny cock until it glistened. Taking a deep breath, she took in more and more of his length, until she could feel it moving down inside her throat. She held herself there as long as she could, and when she finally pulled away with a gasping cough, Zaeed let out an appreciative laugh.  
  
"Never seen you pull that one off before," Zaeed said. "You must be pretty hungry for that monster, huh?"  
  
"You fucking know it," Miranda said. Getting up from the floor, she jumped back up on to the desk, spreading her legs now of her own accord. "I want that thing inside me right fucking now," she breathed, rubbing herself with reckless abandon. "Come on, motherfucker, what the fuck are you waiting for?"  
  
Stepping forward with a wicked grin, Zaeed placed the head of his cock at Miranda's dripping entrance. He was so close to penetrating her, but he just stood there, that stupid smile still on his face.  
  
"Goddamit, stop fucking around and fuck me already," Miranda cried out, lifting her legs up to wrap around Zaeed, trying to force him to enter her.  
  
"You sure you want this?" Zaeed smirked at her, pushing forward ever so slightly, his cock slowly parting Miranda's lips. "You seemed like you weren't sure earlier."  
  
Miranda growled at him, putting all of Jack's anger and rage into her words. "I swear to fucking God, if you don't stick that cock in me right fucking now, I'll rip your goddamned throat out, you understand?"  
  
Zaeed waited one second more, before saying, "I'm at your command, Miss Lawson" and plunging forward.  
  
Miranda gasped at the shock of the sudden penetration and at Zaeed's words. "You..." she said between gasps, "You fucking knew?"  
  
"'Course I knew. Your American accent is terrible, by the way," he said, not pausing in his thrusting as he spoke.  
  
"But you and Jack..."  
  
Zaeed laughed. "I've barely even spoken to the bird. Just wanted to see if I could trick you into coming in here and giving my tonker a lick or two. Never thought I'd convince you to go this far, though."  
  
"You... son of a bitch!" Miranda cried out.  
  
Zaeed stopped thrusting, regarding Miranda with a serious expression. "So, you want me to stop?"  
  
Miranda stared back at him for a long time. Finally, she sighed. "Just shut the fuck up and get back to it, already."  
  
Zaeed was nothing if not compliant to his superior officer.  
  
* * *

Jack gasped as she stared through the glass. "I don't fucking believe it!" she snapped. She watched as her own body crouched down on the floor of the opposite cargo bay, to allow Zaeed to come in from behind and get a firm grip on her hips. "That fucking bitch! You see what she's doing to my body? My body, dammit!"  
  
Grunt let out a snort. Humans talked way too much. Even now, with the dark-haired human bent over against his window, her hands pressed against the glass and her ass filled with his scaly cock, she was still babbling. Not that he didn't appreciate the human's generous offer of her body, but he hoped he was able to cum soon, so he could kick the mouthy slut out of his room.  
  
"So that's the way she wants to play it, huh?" Jack said with a sneer. "Well, if she's going to have her fun running around with my body, wait until she sees what I've got in store for her perfect ass."  
  
The krogan behind her let out an unmistakable sound, and Jack was quick to spin around and drop to her knees, the better for Grunt to fire four balls worth of cum across her, covering her in thick alien fluids.  
  
"Yeah, I think Miranda's about to get a bit friendlier with the rest of the crew," Jack said, before licking the last few drops off the end of Grunt's cock.  
  
Grunt sighed. Still talking. It was almost enough to keep him from getting erect again when the human started mewling at him, begging him for another go.  
  
Almost.


	4. Chapter 4

"Don't worry, Tali," Kelly said, sitting behind her desk and smiling warmly. "Everything said in this office is in the strictest of confidences. I assume that this is something to do with the... unique situation you're currently in."  
  
"Somewhat," Tali said. "I tried to tell Shepard, but... I didn't want her to think I was..." Tali felt herself stammering again, her cheeks turning red. It had taken all her courage to even walk into this office, but now that she was here, she couldn't believe what she was about to say.  
  
Kelly gave her a warm, caring smile. "Tali, trust me. Whatever you have to say, I won't judge you for it. It's my job to make sure you feel completely comfortable on this ship, after all. So, please, you can say whatever is on your mind."  
  
Tali swallowed, taking a deep breath. "Ever since I've been in Ash's body, I've been... been... aroused."  
  
Kelly smiled. "It's perfectly natural. The idea of inhabiting somebody else's body is a common sexual fantasy."  
  
"It's more than that, though," Tali said, fidgeting in her chair. "It's like all I can think about is sex. I don't know if that's a human thing that I'm just not used to, or maybe it's just the feeling of being out of my suit like this. But all day, every person I've been in contact with, all I can think about is ripping off my clothes and letting them have me."  
  
"Interesting," Kelly said. "And did you ever have fantasies of this nature before?"  
  
"No," Tali said, then immediately shook her head. "Actually, that's not true. I have fantasized like this before. But definitely not this often and... mostly about one person."  
  
"Commander Shepard," Kelly said, and Tali jumped in her seat.  
  
"How did you know?" Tali asked.  
  
Kelly smiled. "Truthfully, Tali... it was just the most logical guess. The two of you have a long history together, and you've been through so many emotionally taxing situations with each other. It's only natural that you would form an attachment. Have you made your feelings for Shepard known to her?"  
  
"No, I couldn't," Tali said. "Besides, Shepard loves Ash. I saw the way Shepard used to watch her back when we were on the first Normandy. Someone like Ash... I could never compete with someone that beautiful and amazing. No, I'm just better off on my own, not making things complicated by letting my feelings get in the way. And especially now, in my current situation..." Tali let out a sad chuckle. "I just wish I had my nerve-stim program right now. If I had that, at least I'd be able to keep my mind off all these... thoughts."  
  
"Why do you need your nerve-stim program?" Kelly said. "If these fantasies are proving to be so distracting, you can just masturbate."

Tali blushed again. "Well, you see... the problem with that is..." She looked up at Kelly with a bashful smile. "I've never... really done it before. I mean, when I was in my suit, it wasn't really an option."  
  
"Ah, I see," Kelly said. "Well, I think I can give you some proper instruction on that, Tali."  
  
"Thanks, Kelly," Tali said, bringing up her omni-tool. "Just forward the information to my extranet address, I'll look it over when..."  
  
Tali was interrupted by the sound of a light buzzing. She looked up and let out a surprised gasp. Kelly was standing up behind her desk, and in her hand was a long, thin plastic rod, vibrating away in her palm.  
  
"You know me, Tali," Kelly said. "I've always been more of a hands-on type of girl. Now, take your pants off."  
  
* * *  
  
Ashley felt horrible.  
  
After returning to her quarters, she had accessed Tali's mission logs, the quarian having left detailed notes on each mission the Normandy had undertaken. Story after story of Shepard's dedication to duty, her willingness to help people in need, filled Tali's visor. Ash hadn't known before watching these logs, but each one of Shepard's squadmates had come to their commander with a crisis. Miranda had a sister that had been kidnapped by her cut-throat father. Jack had old wounds to heal at a Cerberus facility. Even Tali, she'd gone through hell back on the Migrant Fleet.  
  
"I don't know how it happened," Tali was saying, her voice filled with emotion. "But Shepard stood up to the Admiralty Board of the Migrant Fleet and forced them to listen to her. And now I've been exonerated, and it's all thanks to Shepard. She's..." Tali hesitated at this point, and then cleared her throat. "She performed the mission successfully."  
  
Ash felt herself feeling emotional. She'd been unfair to Shepard. While Ash had been sitting around being angry at her, Shepard had been doing her part, for both the individuals she encountered and for the galaxy as a whole. Offhandedly, she pressed a button on her omnitool to close the current log.  
  
"Personal log addendum," said a mechanical voice, and Ash gasped. She'd hit the wrong button, still not used to these alien hands. Instead of closing the log, she had accessed Tali's personal logs. Frantic, she tried to find the button to halt the playback, but she couldn't spot it.  
  
"Shepard was... amazing," Tali was saying, her voice less stiff and informal, this recording only meant for her own ears. "Every moment since I saw her again on Freedom's Progress, I'm reminded of why I fell in love with this woman, and why I know in my heart that I will never stop loving her."  
  
Ashley paused in her attempts to halt the message, shocked at Tali's words.  
  
"I always grew up thinking I'd meet some male crew member on the ship I'd be assigned to after my Pilgrimage, and we'd find each other agreeable enough that we'd get married, have as many children as was needed to benefit the Migrant Fleet. The idea of falling in love seemed silly, a notion from the days before we'd been driven off our home world. And for me to fall in love with not just a woman, but an alien woman... if I'd gone back and told the younger me, ready to head off on her long journey, that this would be the result, she'd have never believed me."  
  
"But it's true. I love Jane Shepard. I love her so much that it hurts to be around her, knowing that she would never feel the same way. And even if I go to my death on this mission without having ever touched her, or kissed her, I know that my last breath will be a declaration of my love for her."  
  
Ashley listened to Tali pour out her heart on her personal log, shocked at the depth of Tali's feelings. How could Ash have not seen it? She supposed it was difficult to read Tali's emotions behind this mask, but still, to have never gotten a hint of this before now?  
  
Finding the proper button, Ashley was finally able to work her hands enough to turn off the log. Shaken by the depth of the current revelation, it took Ash nearly three minutes to realize that, even with all this time spent keeping her mind occupied, she was still incredibly horny.

Sighing, she scrolled through the suit controls Tali had adapted to work with Ash's omni-tool. Maybe Tali had some movies or something stored in this thing, something to take her mind off her groin for once.  
  
Ash paused as she saw an unfamiliar entry in the list of Tali's on-board programs. "Nerve-Stim Pro," she muttered to herself. "Wonder what that is?"  
  
* * *  
  
"That's it," Kelly whispered lightly into Tali's ear. "Take it slow. It'll take some time to find out what feels best; there's no need to rush it."  
  
Tali was reclining back on an angled couch in Kelly's office. She had removed Ash's pants and underwear at Kelly's request, and now was slowly running a vibrator up and down the length of her pussy. She could hear her own breath coming in harsh, heated gasps, while a dark, wet spot slowly started to form on the fabric of the couch below her.  
  
Kelly was kneeling next to her, giving her words of encouragement. "How does it feel, Tali?"  
  
"Feels... feels good," Tali found it difficult to concentrate on speaking, the sensations being elicited by the plastic wand in her hand bringing her maddeningly close to climax. It was nothing compared to the pleasures of nerve-stimulation, but there was something about this that was a lot more... real.  
  
"Why don't you try putting it inside you?" Kelly asked, her hand reaching down to intertwine with Tali's, steering the tip of the device into position. "Again, do it slowly. Take your time and enjoy the sensation."  
  
Tali let out a gasp as she felt the vibrator slide inside her. "Oh, keelah," she exclaimed, the buzzing device inside of her feeling almost alive as it forced her open.  
  
"You know," Kelly said, "Some women enjoy stimulating their nipples while masturbating."  
  
Reaching up, Tali grabbed the bottom of Ash's T-shirt and drew it up, grabbing her sports bra on the way to expose her bare breasts. Groping herself, she struggled with her unfamiliar fingers to play with her rock-hard nipple. After a few seconds of fumbling, she felt Kelly's hand gently move her own away.  
  
"Here," she breathed into Tali's ear. "Let me."  
  
And the surprise of feeling Kelly's lips around her areola, and her tongue lapping at her erect nipple, was enough to send Tali off into a shrieking climax. She dropped the vibrator as she felt herself losing control of her body, and just as she felt herself coming down from the waves of pleasure, Kelly's hand found its way between her thighs, and her expert fingers soon brought Tali to a second orgasm.  
  
By the time their appointment was up, Kelly had given Tali extensive instruction in the many varieties of human female stimulation, and demonstrated them with the vast collection of devices she kept in her desk drawer. Tali stumbled out of Kelly's office feeling like she'd run a marathon, but even after all of that, she was still feeling horny.  
  
She knew what she wanted to do. What might finally relieve the tension she'd been feeling. But the thought of it filled what was left of her rational mind in disgust.  
  
"It'd be wrong," her internal voice said. "You'd be letting down both Ashley and Shepard, and you'd be doing it for all the wrong reasons."  
  
But this ache, this maddening urge refused to abate. There was only one person who Tali thought would be able to satisfy her, and with her decision made, Tali turned and made her way toward the elevator.  
  
* * *  
  
"Fuck!" Miranda cried out. "Fucking fuck fuck fuck!" She was becoming more like Jack every day.  
  
The session with Zaeed had only momentarily distracted her attention from the sensations between her legs. By the time she'd gotten back to her office, she was already starting to feel the horniness returning. Nothing Miranda did seemed to satisfy Jack's cravings, not her fingers, not the vibrator she kept stowed under her mattress. Jack's body was threatening to drive Miranda's mind insane.  
  
When she heard a beeping sound at her door, a notice that someone was requesting entrance, Miranda made up her mind. She didn't care who it was, male, female, human, alien... she was going to drag them into this room and she was going to fuck them absolutely senseless.

But when she opened the door, there was no one there. Just as she was about to groan in disappointment, she saw something on the ground. A small datapad had been left at her door.  
  
Picking up the device, she saw the main display. "Heard you'd been having some stress problems. Think this'll help you out," read the text. Miranda pressed the button on the bottom of the screen, and the plain text was replaced with a garish display.  
  
"HOT! HOT! HOT!  
Come see the debut show of the  
sexiest performer ever to set  
foot on the Normandy!  
  
A show guaranteed to make you  
rock-hard and bring you cumming  
back for more!  
  
No cover! Free booze!  
  
You DEFINITELY don't want to miss  
this sexy siren as she teases,  
pleases, and blows your mind!  
  
No touching the dancers?  
Not at this show, buddy!  
Touching welcome and encouraged!  
  
Come on down to Deck 5 tonight and  
see what fantasies lie in store!"  
  
At the bottom of the lewd advertisement was a small blurb of text. "NOTE: You have been specially selected from a lucky few to receive this invitation. Tell no one else about this. Come alone, or don't come at all."  
  
Miranda stared at the datapad in disbelief. Who could have possibly known about the problems she'd been having? Zaeed pretty much kept to himself down in engineering, and she hadn't told anyone else. Who could have possibly sent this?  
  
She was tempted to believe the whole thing was a prank, but something about it gave her pause.  
  
"Something like this," she started saying to herself. "It's completely against ship protocol. I have a duty to go down and put an end to it."  
  
Yeah, that was the ticket. Of course, she'd need to actually watch the show, just to make absolutely positive it was against protocol. She couldn't afford to make a mistake; she'd probably have to sit through the whole thing, keeping a close eye at whoever the woman was who was participating in such... debauchery. The poor thing obviously had self-esteem issues, and it was Miranda's job to help her out through such a difficult situation.  
  
She reached the lift in a flash, hitting the down button and waiting impatiently. When the door slid open, she saw Tali standing inside. The quarian in the human marine's body reacted with shock. "Oh, Jac... Miranda."  
  
"Going down to the show on deck 5?" Miranda asked, before remembering that the datapad had said not to tell anyone else.  
  
"What show?" Tali asked. "No, I'm going up, actually. You're going down?"  
  
Miranda nodded. "I'll catch it on the way down."  
  
And as the door slid shut, and Miranda caught the hungry look in Tali's eye, she began to wonder if maybe she wasn't the only one dealing with these overwhelming sensations.  
  
* * *  
  
Falling back on to her bed, Ashley gasped for breath.  
  
As it turns out, the Nerve-Stim software was exactly what she had been looking for. The device had several different options for provoking orgasmic responses, from a slow, sensual build-up, to a series of rapid, mind-blowing climaxes. However, Ash had done every one of them twice now, and although the sensations were amazing, she felt no closer to relieving the constant arousal she was feeling.  
  
Finally, she pressed an unmarked button on her omnitool. She heard a voice inside her helmet. "Our systems indicate that this attached module has not been certified for use with Nerve-Stim Pro. The makers of Nerve-Stim Pro cannot be held responsible for any negative effects this module may cause. Do you still wish to continue with this module?"  
  
Ash was intrigued now. "Yes," she spoke into the helmet microphone. The business-like male voice was replaced with a sensual female voice.  
  
"Hello, and welcome to Virtual Partner. This attachment to Nerve-Stim Pro will provide you with an experience unlike anything else you've seen, heard, or felt. Is this your first time using Virtual Partner?"  
  
"Yes," Ashley said.  
  
"Alright, then. Let's walk you through the steps to getting started. First off, what is your name?"  
  
"Ashley."  
  
"Name entered as... Ashley. Is this correct?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Nice to meet you, Ashley. The next question is, what is your gender?"  
  
"Female."  
  
"Gender entered as... female. Is this correct?"  
  
"Yes."

"Alright, Ashley, now that we know about you, let's get to know your partner. You can either enter new bio-scan information at this time, or access one of the existing bio-scans currently loaded in this module. Would you like to enter a new scan, or use an existing scan?"  
  
Since Ash had no idea how to input anything into this program, she said, "Use an existing scan."  
  
"There are currently... two... bio-scans registered to this device. Please select your desired bio-scan."  
  
A menu appeared across the HUD in Tali's mask. As it populated information, Ashley began to understand what this program was for. The first option, naturally, was Commander Shepard. When the menu option was selected, it provided a complete listing of biological information for Shepard. Her height, weight, bodily proportions. A detailed image of her face, and even a voice sample. Everything you would need to generate a simulation of another person.  
  
"So," Ash thought to herself, "Tali couldn't get the real thing, so she installed this to have Shepard in her own way. Tali, you dirty girl, you."  
  
Consciously, Ash knew she should shut this down immediately. Listening to Tali's personal log was bad enough, but to pry into her sexual fantasies like this seemed a bit beyond the pale.  
  
She was about ready to shut the whole thing down, when her curiosity got the better of her. "Two bio-scans," she thought to herself, staring at the other, unmarked option on the menu. "Considering how much she's in love with Shepard, I'm surprised she would need anyone else's scan in here."  
  
Whoever it was, Tali had accessed it within the last few months, so it wasn't just some former crush that had been replaced with Shepard. Promising herself that she would definitely close this after looking, Ashley accessed the other option.  
  
And her eyes went wide as the name lit up on the interior screen.  
  
"ASHLEY WILLIAMS."  
  
* * *  
  
Shepard rubbed her eyes blearily, a light noise in her room awakening her from her sleep. Instincts took hold, and she grabbed her gun from the side table, pointing it at the dim silhouette she could barely make out.  
  
"Shepard, it's me," said a familiar voice.  
  
"Tali," Shepard muttered, placing her gun back on the nightstand. "What are you doing in my room? I thought I locked the door."  
  
"You did," Tali said, Ashley's voice thick with Tali's quarian accent. "I broke in."  
  
Shepard frowned. Tali was acting strange. She reached for the light switch, but nothing happened as she triggered it.  
  
"I disabled it," Tali said in the darkness. "I wanted you to hear me, think of me as Tali, when I say this."  
  
"Tali, what's going on?"  
  
Tali paused for a few seconds, as if considering her words. "When did you fall in love with her, Shepard? Ash... when did you know that you loved her?"  
  
The question took Shepard aback, and she couldn't figure out a way to respond.  
  
"When it happened to me, it was almost immediately. I mean, I didn't know it was love at first. Somebody came in and saved me from certain death, of course you're going to start feeling something for that person right away. But the moment I knew was with that girl Talitha, the one from the colony where you were born. When I saw the way you talked her down, the compassion you showed to her, I knew right then and there that I loved you. That I'd been in love with you since the day we met, and only now was realizing it."  
  
Shepard stared blankly at the dark form in front of her. "Tali, I... I didn't..."  
  
This brought a sad laugh. "Of course you didn't know. You already knew who you wanted, and what I felt wasn't as important." Shepard started to protest, and the dark figure held up a hand. "Don't deny it. I know that if somebody else came up to me and told me they loved me, I wouldn't be able to return the affection. I've already given my heart away, you see, and I guess you have too, Shepard."  
  
"See, we're the same, Shepard," Tali said. "Both of us want someone they can't have. All we can do is hope that things change, and until then, we pretend like we have a chance. So, the reason I came here tonight is..."

As Tali paused, the lights came on. Shepard's eyes adjusted quickly to the sudden brightness, and her mouth gaped open as she saw Tali standing at the foot of the bed.  
  
Wearing Ashley's body... and nothing else.  
  
"Tonight, I want us to pretend together."


	5. Chapter 5

As soon as Miranda stepped out onto Deck 5, she heard the loud sounds of a party in progress. Thumping bass and drunken laughter seemed to fill the entire deck.  
  
The lights had been dimmed in the hangar bay, and somebody had arranged several of the crates of supplies into a tall barrier, to wall off a particular area and block the view of anybody observing through the windows on the engineering deck.  
  
Miranda made her way around the crates to find about 20 or so crew-members laughing and drinking. A bar had been set up against one wall, and the chosen few who'd been invited to this affair crowded around to refill their glasses.  
  
As Miranda approached the group, the first thing she noticed was that all of the assembled party-goers were men. It made her curious as to why she had been chosen to get an invitation. A few of them shot her suspicious looks as she entered, before averting their eyes and trying to hide their faces.  
  
"Uh, hey, Miss Lawson," said the crew-member working the bar as she approached, a member of the security team whose name she seemed to remember was Franklin. He immediately stopped pouring a shot of whiskey for a navigation technician to Miranda's left and stared at the floor. "Okay, we're busted. Look, I'll shut this down right away. It wasn't even my idea, I just..."  
  
Without saying a word, Miranda grabbed the bottle of whiskey from his hand and wrapped her lips around the neck. While the men whooped and cheered, she knocked back the nearly half-full bottle of liquor and didn't come up for breath until it was dry. "Fuck yeah," she cried out, and the crew cheered and patted her on the back.  
  
She joined in with the festivities, laughing uproariously at all of the tall tales from Alliance training and past shore leaves the crew traded between each other, and downing drink after drink along with them. It was a little while until she noticed the one other new feature of the cargo deck: someone had set up a thick red curtain and a makeshift stage, long and with a metal pole planted at the end. Miranda wasn't exactly a prude, so she knew exactly what this set-up was for.  
  
"Hey, when does the show start, anyway?" she asked one of the crew, her head swimming as she spoke. It was just occurring to her now that she wasn't in her own body at the moment. Her father's genetically-engineered genes had included a resistance to alcohol that made it almost impossible for Miranda to get drunk. But Jack didn't have such benefits, and while Miranda imagined Jack probably could knock back a few with the best of them, she wasn't as resistant to the effects of alcohol as Miranda was used to.  
  
"Should be any time now," said Hawthorne. "Didn't know you were into that sorta thing, Miss Lawson."  
  
"I'm... I'm not. Not really," Miranda said with a giggle. "I'm into men," she said blearily, as her hand reached down to stroke Hawthorne's thigh. This brought another cheer from the crowd.  
  
"Oh, fuck," Hawthorne moaned, a sizeable bulge forming in his uniform pants. Snickering, Miranda shifted her hand to rub against his erection, the crewman throwing his head back and letting out a groan as she fondled him.  
  
"Screw the show, man," said another crew member, who approached Miranda from the other side and started groping at Jack's petite breasts. "We got the good shit right here."  
  
And just then, the music playing came to an abrupt halt, and a man's voice came over the speakers placed at either side of the stage. "Gentlemen of the Normandy, are you ready?" The response was a chorus of cheers, which Miranda joined in despite not being one of the addressed gentlemen. "Then let me introduce you to the hottest thing to come out of the Milky Way galaxy since the sunlight on Haestrom. Please give a warm Normandy welcome to Commander Jane Leopard!"

The sound of automatic weapon fire came from the speakers, and the lights were dimmed to almost darkness. The curtains parted, and a spotlight was turned on to illuminate a woman wearing an N7 Breather Helmet... and not much else. The only thing covering her otherwise naked body was a skimpy leopard-skin bikini, Miranda guessed to better fit with the silly name.  
  
A new, bass-heavy track began to play as the show began. The stripper pantomimed brandishing an assault rifle as she made her way up the stage, playing her part to the hilt. As soon as she reached the pole, however, she dropped the act and lept to grip onto the hard metal column. The crowd let out an appreciative cheer as she twirled around, her legs spread wide and her crotch rubbing against the metal as she spun around to hit the ground.  
  
"Damn," thought Miranda as she watched the dancer go through her routine. "The girl knows her stuff." Hawthorne and the rest of the partygoers quickly moved away from Miranda to crowd around the stage, and silly as it was, Miranda was starting to feel a little jealous.  
  
The routine continued, the mystery dancer wrapping her legs around the pole to hang upside down. Reaching down, she gripped the strap of her top and tore it off, the men cheering as her breasts sprang free. Flipping back up onto her feet, she writhed sensuously, her eyes taking in the crowd from behind her helmet.  
  
With the crowd focusing all their attention on the dancer, nobody was watching Miranda as she slid her hand down inside her pants, unashamedly playing with herself as she watched the dancer move.  
  
As the men cheered and the dance continued, the tone started to change subtly. As the background music slowed in tempo, the dancer moved away from the pole and began approaching the audience, rubbing her bare tits and moving her hips from side to side as she stepped. Lowering herself to the floor, the dancer rolled onto her back and leaned out over the edge of the stage, her breasts hanging in the faces of the drooling men.  
  
One man tentatively reached a hand out and, when the dancer made no indication of refusal, grabbed one of her breasts and began to roughly grope her. Another of the crew jumped right in to grab the other tit, and after about thirty seconds of this treatment, the dancer rolled around to place herself in front of two more of the crew members, who continued where the first two men left off.  
  
"Oh, fuck," Miranda said as her fingers worked busily inside her damp snatch. What she wouldn't give to be in that dancer's body right now.  
  
And in her bleary, alcohol-muddled mind, that's when the connection finally got made.  
  
As the crowd let out another cheer, the dancer grabbed the front of her thong panties and tore them away, revealing a damp pussy and a thin landing strip of black pubic hair that Miranda had just trimmed a week ago. As Miranda sprang from her seat and charged forward, the dancer was presenting her crotch to one of the crew, who was just about to dive in tongue-first when Miranda shoved him away.  
  
Grabbing the dancer, Miranda pulled her to the floor and whipped off the helmet. And her own face grinned back at her.  
  
"Hey, cheerleader," said Jack. "Enjoying the show?"  
  
* * *

"Tali..." Shepard nervously scooted toward the head of her bed, as Tali crawled toward her, the expression on her face unmistakable in its desperate need. "You're making a huge mistake, Tali."  
  
Tali shook her head, Ashley's well-muscled frame slick with perspiration as she moved closer to Shepard's reclined form. "Shepard, don't you see? This is the best thing that could have happened for both of us. We both get what we want... WHO we want."  
  
"But you're not really Ash," Shepard said, hating to say it but needing to stop Tali from going any further with this. "It's not real."  
  
Tali responded with a melancholic smile. "It's as real as you want it to be, Shepard. And I don't even mind if you want to call me Ash. I'll be whoever you want me to be, if it means I get to have you."  
  
As Tali's hand reached forward, Shepard tried to grip the edge of her covers, but Tali used Ashley's strength to tear them out of her grasp. As the sheets flew away, Shepard's well-built frame was revealed, clad in her usual night clothes of an old tanktop and panties.  
  
"Please," Shepard said, even as she could feel her breathing start to accelerate. She could no longer keep herself from staring at Ash's naked body, a sight she'd dreamed about so many nights before. God, why did she have to be so perfect? It would be so much easier to put a stop to this if every instinct in her body wasn't telling her to surrender to the lust burning inside her.  
  
Tali was on top of her now, the weight of Ashley's muscular body pressing down on Shepard, pinning her into place. Tali's hand slowly started creeping up under the bottom of Shepard's top. Shepard tried to fight it, but she couldn't bite back the heated moan as Tali cupped her breast, her fingers teasing and pulling at her rock-hard nipple.  
  
"I'm yours, Shepard," Tali leaned down and whispered into Shepard's ear. "My commander, my love... I'm all yours."  
  
"Tali..." Shepard protested one last time, even as Tali slowly lifted her shirt and leaned down to take Shepard's other nipple into her mouth.  
  
"Oh, God, yes," Shepard gasped, surrendering herself to the fantasy.  
  
* * *  
  
Ash stared at the 3-D rendered version of herself on Tali's helmet display, still shocked at this revelation. Tali had made a simulation of her in this sex program? The truth about Tali's feelings for Shepard had been jarring enough, but the idea of meek, bashful Tali getting herself off to fantasies of...  
  
She frowned. Her first instinct was to find Tali and confront her about this, but how could she ever do that? She'd be admitting that she'd pried into Tali's personal files, after all. In some ways, she was just as guilty as Tali was, here.  
  
Or maybe not. All she'd seen so far of this program of Tali's was the starting menus. Honestly, she didn't even know what these nerve-stimulation fantasies entailed. And while she doubted it was anything innocent with the general vibe of the program up to this point, she was now curious to know what exactly this simulation did.  
  
But, she thought, there was no way she was going to run a simulation of herself. The image of it was too surreal to consider. Backing out of her entry, she reselected Commander Shepard.  
  
"This is for Tali's own good," Ashley rationalized to herself. "I need to know what she's getting up to with this program."  
  
The rationalization rang hollow, even to herself, but Ash wasn't backing down now. She spoke. "Confirm selection."  
  
"Simulation loading. Please assume a standing position while Virtual Partner builds your chosen scenario."  
  
A sex simulation that made the user stand up? Shrugging, Ashley stepped into position in the center of the cabin. After several minutes, Ashley gasped, as the entire room seemed to fade before her eyes, the bare metal walls of the Normandy replaced with wooden slats.

She stared around at her new surroundings. It was the archetypal vision of a romantic cabin getaway on Earth. A fireplace crackled against a wall, a bottle of champagne chilling in ice nearby. Part of her knew that she was still back on the Normandy, and that all of this was some sort of virtual reality simulation, but all of it seemed so real.  
  
"Ashley," said a voice from behind her, and she turned to see Commander Shepard walking toward her. God, it was like she was right there. The simulation had done a nearly flawless job of creating a false version of Ashley's former commander. The only major difference was that Shepard wasn't wearing her usual Alliance uniform or heavy body armor, instead dressed in a frilly blue blouse and mid-length skirt, an outfit Ashley couldn't imagine the real Shepard wearing in her wildest dreams.  
  
"I bet you're wondering why I invited you here," Shepard's image said.  
  
"No, I think it's pretty obvious why..." Ashley started to say, but Shepard ignored her. Apparently, the simulation wasn't programmed to let the user interact back with their virtual plaything.  
  
"The truth is," the virtual Shepard said, averting her eyes. "Ashley, I've been watching you for a long time now. The past few years, being around you, I've wanted to tell you for so long how I felt, but I was afraid of how you'd react."  
  
Shepard reached up to Ashley's face, and Ashley let out a gasp as she FELT the fingers stroking her cheek. She had to remind herself that this was all a computer program, and that the nerve stimulators in Tali's suit were simulating the feel of Shepard's hand against her face.  
  
But it was all so real.  
  
"I love you, Ashley," Shepard said, her hand reaching down to clasp the back of Ashley's neck. "And I'm through with waiting. So I'm asking you, flat-out... do you feel the same way?"  
  
"Uh, can I think about it?" Ashley said with a nervous chuckle.  
  
Shepard grinned, her eyes glistening. "You do?" she exclaimed, the program obviously expecting a different response from the user. "Ashley, you don't know how hard it's been, being around you so much and pretending I didn't feel the way I felt." Shepard moved forward to embrace her, and despite herself, Ash instinctively reached up to wrap her arms around the virtual Shepard. She could almost swear the feeling of the warm body against hers was real.  
  
Pulling away, the image of Shepard reached down, and Ash felt the sensations of fingers unbuttoning a blouse her virtual form was wearing. "You're so beautiful, Ashley," Shepard said, and Ashley let out a deep breath as she felt Shepard's hands stroking her bare chest. "You're every bit as beautiful as I always dreamed you'd be."  
  
Shepard's hands drifted down Ash's body, the sensation of fingers moving sensuously down her sides and over her hips. The pants her virtual self was wearing joined her blouse on the floor, and Shepard took in her body with heavy-lidded eyes and parted lips.  
  
"I need you now," Shepard said, roughly tearing away her own clothing to stand naked before Ash. Ash let out an appreciative whistle; Tali's bio-scan was certainly thorough. Ash hadn't really considered women as a sexual option before, but Shepard's nicely-toned form, combined with the overheated state her previous forays with Tali's nerve-stimulation had left her in, was opening Ash's mind to new possibilities in a hurry.  
  
Ash felt Shepard's fingers grip her hand, and the simulation created the illusion of motion as Ash was led to the thick bear-skin rug in front of the fireplace. The suit created the sensation of fur tickling Ash's back as Shepard laid her gently down, climbing down soon after to straddle her prone form.  
  
"You're going to love this, Ashley," Shepard said, and as her hand drifted down between Ashley's thighs and Tali's suit did its best to replicate the sensation, Ash found it difficult to argue.

* * *  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Miranda cried out at Jack, grabbing her own body by its shoulders and yelling into her own face.  
  
Jack smirked back. "What does it look like I'm doing? Funny, it's been a few years since I had to make a living working the pole, but looks like some skills don't fade. And let's face it, princess, your body is much more suited for this sort of show than mine is."  
  
Miranda wanted to slap her in the face. "My body! That is my body you're whoring around up there! I should drag you up to Shepard's cabin right now and have her lock you away!"  
  
The assembled crowd of men stood around in confusion, not sure if they should leave and give the two women privacy, or stay and see if things degenerated into a cat fight. The second option won out, as they crowded around the two shouting women.  
  
"Lock me up?" Jack said with a bitter laugh. "Shepard better find a cell big enough for two, then. I know all about what you've been up to in my body."  
  
Miranda tried to hide her surprise. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she lied.  
  
"Oh, really? Does a stiff British cock up your ass ring any bells? Or up MY ass, I should say. I swear, if you got the crabs fucking that guy and I gotta deal with that shit when I get my body back, I'll make you regret it."  
  
A few of the men let out "oooh"s, and one even tried to start a "Fight! Fight!" chant before one of his buddies shushed him.  
  
"Still gonna deny it?" Jack sneered at Miranda.  
  
Miranda searched for an excuse, even though she had none. "It wasn't my fault!"  
  
Jack gave a laugh at this. "What, you going to tell me the smooth, seductive Zaeed Massani used his charm to steal away your innocence?"  
  
"It's your fucking body's fault, Jack!" Miranda snapped. "You're so damned horny all the time, I couldn't think straight!"  
  
"That's your excuse?" Jack snapped back. "My body made you do it? Well, if that's the way this works, then... " Jack let out a overblown gasp. "Oh, no! Somebody stop me! I just can't control myself!"  
  
And with that, Jack dropped to her knees in front of one of the assembled crewmen, unzipped and yanked down his pants, and started delivering a slow, teasing blowjob. While Miranda watched in horror, Jack stared back defiantly as she used Miranda's lips to pleasure the lucky guy. The crowd let out a cheer and, at Jack's beckoning, several of them started removing their own pants and moving into position to receive her attentions.  
  
"Oh, dear me!" Jack said, doing a terrible attempt at faking Miranda's accent as she pulled away from her current cock. "I want to stop, really I do. But I just can't control my body! Please, can one of your big, strong men save me from my own sluttiness?"  
  
"Dammit," Miranda thought to herself, as she watched Jack move from cock to cock, pausing only to grin wickedly at Miranda. "Well, if she's going to whore out MY body..."  
  
Unfastening the belt on Jack's pants, Miranda let them fall to the ground. "You!" she pointed to one of the crewmen not currently vying for Jack's attention. Turning around, she leaned forward against the stage. "Get over here and fuck me."  
  
"I..." the crewman stammered.  
  
"Now, dammit!" Miranda barked, and the crewman hustled over as quickly as he could with his pants around his ankles. Miranda let out an overheated moan as he entered her.  
  
"Oh, yeah, I fucking love it," she imitated Jack's voice, letting out hammy moans and shuddering as if being overwhelmed by passion. "Fill my fucking pussy up with all your hot cum. I just can't get enough of being a filthy fucking slut." She sneered over at Jack with every word.  
  
Jack narrowed her eyes right back. "You think she's a slut?" Jack declared, as she directed one of the crewmen onto the floor and mounted him. "This body of mine just can't get enough fucking cock inside it. I'll take all of you on and still it won't be enough to satisfy my horny ass!" Jack took a crewman's shaft in each hand, stroking as she bounced on the cock impaling her from below.  
  
Miranda would have taunted back, but an inventive crew member had mounted the stage and knelt in front of her, and she just couldn't resist wrapping Jack's lips around his rigid prick.

* * *  
  
As was their usual custom on "movie night," Feron took Liara from behind, the better for both of them to watch the video screens mounted in the bedroom.  
  
"So," Feron said, smiling as he thrust into the wet and willing Shadow Broker. "They can control themselves, huh?"  
  
"Feron, I love you dearly, but please, keep focused on the task at hand," Liara said, somehow still dignified despite currently being bent over and fucked like a wild animal.  
  
On the screens in front of them, the events of the Normandy played out like a low-grade porno. Tali using Ashley's body to seduce Shepard, the commander no longer resisting her advances. Ashley writhing inside Tali's body, some sort of sex program being run on her suit's computer systems. And Miranda and Jack getting gang-banged by a large group of men, the two of them using each other’s bodies to take one cock after another.  
  
Feron had come to a revelation from this entire experience. When he and Liara had decided that they were ready to move their relationship to a physical level, he had been surprised at the fervor and stamina the unassuming asari had displayed in the bedroom. Not that her endless depths of perversions weren't a sheer delight, but Feron couldn't help but wonder where the previously solitary woman had picked up such a... voracious appetite.  
  
But watching the effect of the Prothean artifact on the formerly straight-laced women who'd been affected by its discharge, Feron couldn't help but wonder if that device wasn't the only one that had an effect on the user's libido. And since Liara had spent most of her early life unearthing and studying Prothean artifacts, maybe something she'd found had affected her as well.  
  
But the humans had a saying about staring into the orifices of steeds offered freely, and Feron was perfectly willing to help Liara satisfy her hungers, whether inspired by the influence of ancient artifacts or not, as much as he was able.  
  
His efforts were suddenly distracted by a loud chime. "Decryption complete," said a simulated female voice.  
  
"Already?" Feron said, pausing in his efforts. "We should see what we can find, stop this insanity from progressing any further than it has."  
  
"By the Goddess, Feron, they've lasted this long, they can wait a few minutes more," Liara snapped at him. "You leave this bed without finishing and I swear I'll have you tossed out an airlock."  
  
Begrudgingly, Feron returned to his work. His boss, always cracking the whip.


	6. Chapter 6

It was funny. Of all the senses Tali had missed out on from inside the confines of her suit, it had been the taste of things that she'd been most curious about.  
  
Perhaps it was because quarians spent almost their entire lives eating nothing but the same disgusting purified paste, but Tali would often watch non-quarians eat and wonder about what wonderful flavors they were experiencing.  
  
But right now, Tali couldn't imagine even the most expensive and gourmet-prepared meal comparing in the slightest to the taste of her lover on her tongue.  
  
"Oh, God," Shepard moaned as Tali worked between her legs. Kelly had given her a few pointers on oral pleasure before their session had ended (and, naturally, had been more than willing to demonstrate), but Tali still felt awkward. But when she had hesitantly ran her tongue against the small nub of flesh at the top of Shepard's entrance, the low and heated moan that came from above her head told Tali she was on the right track.  
  
"Don't stop," Shepard's head lolled back on her pillow. Her hands reached up to roughly maul her own breasts, as she arched her back off the bed in utter abandon. "Whatever you do, don't stop," she commanded, and Tali was ready and willing to obey.  
  
Remembering something else Kelly had showed her, Tali slowly worked two of her fingers inside of Shepard's soaked gash. "There's a spot human women have inside their vaginal canal," Kelly had said, her tone dry and professional despite the fact that she was rubbing around inside another woman's pussy. It had taken a few seconds, but when Kelly had found what she was looking for, Tali had almost fallen off the couch from the sensation.  
  
And as Tali's fingers found the target of the quest, Shepard bucked upward so hard that Tali almost took a shot to the chin from Shepard's hips. Bringing around Ash's other well-muscled arm to hold Shepard in place, Tali vigorously rubbed inside of Shepard as she squirmed and writhed. It wasn't long after Tali began working her thumb against Shepard's clit at the same time, that Shepard let out a long cry of release.  
  
"FuuuuUUUUUUUCK!" Shepard's voice was raw with the screams she had been letting out under Tali's ministrations. Tali gasped as Shepard's pussy began gushing clear fluids out onto the bedclothes, but didn't pause in her stimulations. Shepard's climax seemed to last for minutes, and when she finally fell back to the bed with a gasp, her body was limp and nearly lifeless.  
  
"Was it everything you dreamed of?" Tali said with a smile as she climbed up to lay on top of Shepard.  
  
With the remaining energy in her body, Shepard reached up to caress Ashley's face. "You were amazing, Tali."  
  
Tali glanced away. "Shepard, I told you. You can call me Ash if..."  
  
"No," Shepard insisted. "It doesn't matter what body you're in. I'm making love to you, Tali."  
  
Biting her lips, Tali tried to fight the tears that were coming. "Shepard... I've wanted to tell you for so long, and I wasn't sure that..."  
  
Shepard laid a gentle hand on Tali's cheek, tilting her head back to look into her eyes. "No more talk, Tali. Let's enjoy tonight while we can. The rest can come later." Her serious expression suddenly turned playful, and Tali let out a surprised squeal as Shepard spun out from under her. Before she even knew it, Tali was now under her beautiful commander. Just as quickly, Shepard moved in to passionately kiss Tali.  
  
The wonderful moment seemed to stretch on forever, Shepard's lips never leaving hers even as her hand slipped down to gently stroke Ashley's dripping sex.  
  
But then abruptly, Shepard pulled away, and stood up to walk to the other end of the room.  
  
"Shepard, where are you going?" Tali asked her.  
  
"Tali, I don't know where you learned to do what you just did to me, but there's no way I'm going to be able to repay THAT with just my hands and tongue," Shepard said. Opening a drawer, she pulled out something and showed it to Tali.  
  
"Oh, keelah," Tali said, with a mix of fear and anticipation. "What have I gotten myself into?"

* * *  
  
"Yes!" cried out Ashley, as the virtual representation of Shepard's fingers worked frantically between her legs. "Oh, fuck, that's good!"  
  
To any outside observer, Ashley was lying on the ground in the middle of her quarters on the Normandy, her body twitching and writhing. But in her mind, she was now completely immersed inside Tali's Virtual Partner program.  
  
"Are you enjoying this, Ashley?" Shepard asked her.  
  
"Yes, yes, yes," Ashley moaned, not even caring that she was talking to a program that couldn't hear her. It must have expected such a response, though, by the way the simulated fingers increased the tempo of penetration.  
  
Ashley shut her eyes, blocking out all of the sensations being projected into her mind except the feeling of Shepard's digits stimulating her into ever-increasing heights of satisfaction. She heard herself babbling, the words flowing out like she wasn't in control of her tongue.  
  
"Oh, God, Shepard, if this is anything like it would be in real life... Shepard, I should have kissed you back! I should have kissed you and dragged you into your quarters and let you fuck me raw just like you're doing now! Oh, God, what have I been missing out on? Shepard, I love this! I love you!"  
  
As the words spilled out, she felt her climax hit. After the wonderful spasms ceased, Ashley slumped onto the ground, spent.  
  
"Fu..." Ashley breathed, not enough energy to complete the thought.  
  
"I've got another surprise for you, Ashley," Shepard said.  
  
Ashley struggled to speak between gasps. "Not... sure I'm gonna... gonna survive any more... surprises."  
  
Shepard's brow furrowed in concentration, fingers rubbing at the crest of her pussy. Ashley saw something start to poke out from between Shepard's fingers, and her jaw almost dropped to the floor as she saw Shepard's clitoris continue to inflate and change form. After about a minute of rubbing and tugging, Shepard withdrew her hands to reveal a thick, pulsating 12-inch cock jutting out from between her hips.  
  
"Tali, you kinky bitch," Ashley muttered, too stunned to move as Shepard crawled between her legs, aiming her new appendage at Ashley's dampened entrance.  
  
* * *  
  
With one cock buried deep in her snatch, another one pounding her from behind, and at least five loads of cum already shot between her legs or sprayed across her bare flesh, Miranda wasn't even close to being satisfied.  
  
"Come on," she moaned. "More. Give me more cock. Still so fucking hot..." Was she still taunting Jack, or were the whorish words coming out of her mouth sincere? Miranda was long past the point of caring, only interested now in making love to every man in this room, until either Jack gave in or until Jack's body was finally satisfied.  
  
And the longer this went on, the more it seemed that neither condition was going to occur anytime soon.  
  
Looking to her left, she saw one of the more muscular crewmen coming up from behind Jack. As the sociopath currently living in her body let out a surprised squeal, the buff officer brought his arms up under Jack's thighs and hoisted her into the air, before dropping her down asshole-first onto his erection. Another man came in from the front between Jack's spread legs, and the two crewman began fucking her in mid-air.  
  
Most of the men in the room had already gotten their turn with one of the two sexually voracious women, but Miranda saw most of them were already recovered enough to have another go. Those who weren't currently engaged were crowding around and cheering their buddies on.  
  
"Give it to her, Billy!" cried out one man. "Fuck that little slut!"  
  
"She's been begging for it since she got here!" yelled out another man. "Rape the shit out of her!"  
  
"Let me at that frigid bitch's pussy," said a crewman, Miranda seemed to recall his name was Rolston, as he replaced the spent crewman screwing Jack from the front. Miranda could remember hearing stories about his family, who'd narrowly escaped from a Collector attack and had made it safely to San Francisco. Safe to say, Rolston's thoughts were far from his wife and child as he sank himself deep inside of Jack's well-used snatch.

Jack threw her head back and moaned, before yelling out to be heard over the crowd. "Keep it coming, fellas! By the time Miranda gets back into her own body, I want it so full of fucking cum she's gonna be drowning in it!"  
  
Miranda would have yelled something back, but the latest in a series of climaxes was demanding her attention at the moment. As she felt the spasms hit, a warm wetness filled her backside, the crewman doing her from behind filling her asshole up with his cum. It wasn't seconds after he was finished before another crewman pushed him aside and knelt down to take his place.  
  
Fuck Jack. If she thought Miranda was going to let her win this, she was very mistaken. Thrusting back against the dual penetration, she felt herself working towards her next orgasm and smiled, before a third crewman stepped in front of her and she opened her mouth to allow him entrance.  
  
This night wasn't going to be over any time soon, and that was fine with her.  
  
* * *  
  
Liara, having finally been satisfied by Feron's efforts, sat at her desk and pored through the recently decoded research notes, scanning for any sign of an answer.  
  
"You better find something soon," Feron informed her from the bed, watching as the carnal activities on the Normandy increased in pace. "This party isn't showing any signs of slowing down."  
  
Minutes passed as Liara carefully skimmed the documents. Most of them were boring, procedural notes. Logs of experiment schedules and requests for further funding.  
  
Finally, she spotted something. "This could be it," she said to Feron, who rushed over to crouch beside her and view the screen.  
  
"No way," Feron muttered as he read the research notes. "That's the solution?"  
  
Liara turned back to the viewscreens with a smile. "If the timing works out," she said, "Looks like this problem is going to solve itself."  
  
* * *  
  
"No," moaned the weakened crew member, sprawled across the floor in sheer exhaustion. "Can't... not again."  
  
"You bunch of fucking pussies," Jack exclaimed, on her feet now and staring around the room at the dazed and unconscious men slowly retrieving their uniforms. "We've just gotten fucking started, here!"  
  
While Jack cursed, Miranda frantically stroked another crewman's flaccid penis, but her attempts were yielding no results, as the man shook his head and grabbed his clothes.  
  
"Dammit," Miranda cursed, still craving more despite the near-gallon of cum that she'd already had spilled inside Jack's body tonight. But try as she might, none of the men had the stamina left to continue.  
  
She stared around, not seeing a single person able to give her the satisfaction she craved.  
  
And then their eyes met, and a voice inside her said, "There is one person still standing."  
  
No, it was crazy. It was the person she hated the most in the entire world, controlling Miranda's own body like a puppet. The thought of it was too bizarre. She couldn't...  
  
But she was already walking forward, and Jack met her in the center of the room.  
  
Grabbing Jack roughly, she drew her in for a long and wet kiss, her hands reaching out to caress her own body.  
  
"Shit, princess," Jack said, breathing heavily as she pulled away. "I always knew you were in love with yourself, but I never thought you'd..."  
  
Miranda shoved Jack to the ground roughly, and climbed down on top of her.  
  
"Shut up, Jack," Miranda said, and kissed her again.  
  
* * *  
  
"Oh, God, Shepard," Tali cried out. Shepard had retrieved an intimidating dildo from a drawer, and was currently using it to drive Tali out of her mind. Tali began to wonder if Shepard had ever had any "lessons" with Kelly as well, but any further consideration was being driven out of her mind by pure, unrestrained pleasure.  
  
* * *  
  
"Yes!" Ashley spread her legs wide to allow Shepard better access to her warm snatch. Whatever advanced technology went into these suits, Ashley would pay good money to get one of her own made. It was like she could feel every vein on the virtual Shepard's cock rubbing against her insides. She squeezed her eyes shut, silently praying for this simulation to last forever.

* * *

After several minutes of groping, rubbing, and licking, they ended up in a 69 position. Miranda on top, teasing Jack with her tongue while Jack did the same from below. After several minutes, the two of them came to an unspoken agreement, and adjusted the rhythms of their licking to match each other.  
  
"Fuck," Miranda thought to herself. "It's like I'm eating myself out!"  
  
* * *  
  
"Oh, God," Tali moaned. "Shepard, I'm..."  
  
* * *  
  
"I'm gonna..." Ashley cried out, as Shepard's cock brought her to the brink. "Gonna cu..."  
  
* * *  
  
"Yes!" Miranda cried out in her mind, even as she could feel her own body below her spasming as well. Miranda felt like she was losing consciousness, her vision going hazy as she fell off Jack and tumbled to her back on the floor.  
  
* * *  
  
"Did it happen?" Feron said, as he and Liara watched the body-swapped women climax in unison.  
  
"I think we'll find out in a second," Liara said.  
  
At her nearby terminal, a terse note glowed brightly on the screen. "Research note: Upon further study, effects of Artifact X-38 can be reversed by stimulating both subjects to experience a simultaneous orgasmic response. Unique brain waves at moment of climax seems to restore minds to original state. Do not ask how this was determined. You don't want to know."  
  
* * *  
  
As Miranda's vision returned, she could tell that something was different. The constant fire between her legs had abated. And her scalp suddenly felt very itchy.  
  
She looked down and saw her own body, sticky and slimy with fresh and old semen. She turned her head to the side to look at Jack, who was similarly recovering from the sudden change back.  
  
By this point, the exhausted crewmen were all gone, leaving the two of them alone in the cargo bay. They both rose to their feet, avoiding each other's eyes for a long time as they stood.  
  
Finally, Miranda turned to look at Jack. A thousand curses were on the tip of her tongue, but she didn't have the energy to voice them.  
  
"Showers?" Jack asked, wiping away at the sticky goop her body was covered in.  
  
"Definitely," Miranda replied.  
  
* * *  
  
Tali fell back, drained and satisfied, and it was a few seconds before it occurred to her that she wasn't in Shepard's cabin anymore.  
  
"Simulation complete," said a mechanical voice from just by her ear. "Thank you for using Virtual Partner."  
  
She gasped. "I'm..." she held her hand up, seeing the familiar three fingers in front of her.  
  
"No," she let out a harsh sob. "No, not now, dammit! Not now!"  
  
* * *  
  
"Oh, God," Ashley let out a long breath as she recovered from her amazing orgasm. "Tali sure can program one hell of a simulation."  
  
From between her legs, Shepard stared in confusion. "Simulation? Tali, what are you talking about?"  
  
"Uh," Ashley responded, finally starting to notice her surroundings. This wasn't the remote cabin in the woods anymore. Ashley looked down to see that the cock inside of her was no longer attached to Shepard's hips, and was made of plastic.  
  
"Tali, what's wrong? Are you..." Shepard paused, and then asked tentatively. "Ash?"  
  
"Shepard, what..." Ash started to say, before looking down at her naked body and gasping. "Oh, God!"  
  
Shepard quickly tossed aside the dildo and leapt to her feet. "Ash, I... this isn't what it... okay, no, it's exactly what it looks like."  
  
"What is wrong with you?" Ash cried out, grabbing up Shepard's sheets and wrapping them around her body. "You sick... how could you..."  
  
"Ash, I'm so sorry," Shepard tried to grab onto Ash's shoulder, but the furious marine shoved her hand away.  
  
"Think you've touched me quite enough tonight, Shepard," Ash snapped at her. Still wearing Shepard's sheets, Ash stormed out of Shepard's cabin.


	7. Chapter 7

_SEVERAL DAYS LATER..._  
  
Kelly watched Shepard enter her office with concern. "Shepard, I'm glad you finally came to see me. Ever since the craziness with the Prothean artifact, you've been quiet."

Shepard slumped into a chair opposite Kelly. "We're going to be docking at the Citadel today. Ash will be disembarking, and I've been trying to figure out what I can say to her." She laughed bitterly. "As if anything would make this whole messed up situation any better. Ash hates my guts, and Tali's been avoiding me too. I thought it was bad enough when there was just one women I wanted and couldn't have."  
  
"I don't know what to tell you, Shepard," Kelly admitted. "This isn't exactly a situation my psychology degree prepared me for. I can only treat it like any other traumatic situation, and say that it just takes time. Give Ash and Tali some space, let them sort out their feelings. When they're ready to deal with what happened, then you can try again."  
  
"Liara sent me a message today. Said that even though everyone was back in their own bodies, that the artifact might still have lasting effects."  
  
Kelly considered this. "I wouldn't be surprised. From what you told me, the artifact increased their sexual cravings to uncontrollable levels. In a state like that, with all inhibitions removed and every desire being indulged, a person can find out things about themselves they never considered before. Fetishes they would have considered unimaginable before might now be their greatest desires."  
  
* * *  
  
"Gentlemen of the Normandy! Are you ready?"  
  
It was a large crowd tonight. Fifty crewmen were gathered around the stage still set up in the cargo bay. They cheered as the lights dimmed, and the spotlight shone on the curtain.  
  
"Then welcome to the stage, two women so sexy they could make a krogan go fertile! Our comely Executive officer and her dangerously seductive partner: Miranda and Jack!"  
  
The curtain parted, and Miranda sauntered out first, the crowd letting out cat-calls as she strutted her stuff in a skimpy black bikini. Jack followed soon after, wearing a matching outfit and licking her lips in anticipation of the fun to come.  
  
Side-by-side, they shook their asses as they made their way to the pole at the end of the stage. Miranda didn't have the experience Jack did, but her own natural athleticism helped her keep up as the two of them spun opposite each other, the crowd cheering as the two women snuck gropes and grabs at each other.  
  
Before too long, though, the pole was forgotten. Miranda and Jack whipped off each other's tops, and played to the crowd as they groped each other's breasts. Sinking to her knees, Miranda removed Jack's bottom and happily plunged down between her legs.  
  
For a good fifteen minutes, they sucked, licked, and fingered each other, until they were both sure the crowd was good and ready.  
  
Jack made a signal to the announcer. "It's that time, gentlemen. Be ready on the count of three."  
  
The crowd chanted along to the count. "ONE! TWO! THREE!"  
  
And in unison, fifty pairs of pants dropped to the floor, and fifty rigid cocks sprang into view.  
  
Miranda grabbed Jack and gave her a rough kiss, before the two of them separated to choose their first partners of the night.  
  
* * *  
  
"Tali!" Shepard yelled out, as the quarian tried to duck down a hallway to avoid her. "Tali, just wait for a second!"  
  
She expected Tali to keep going, but she stopped in her tracks. "Shepard, please. It's probably better if we just stay away from each other for a while, don't you think?"  
  
"No, I don't," Shepard said. "Look, Tali, I wasn't lying about that night. When I said I was making love to you, not Ash, I meant it."  
  
"It doesn't matter. I should have never done what I did. It was wrong and I can never forgive myself for it. I don't deserve your friendship."  
  
Shepard laid a hand on Tali's shoulder, smiling warmly. "Right or wrong, Tali, I realized some things that night. That there was a wonderful person right under my nose all this time, but I'd been so blinded by my idiot love for someone else that I didn't realize what I was missing out on."  
  
"Shepard, even if we... even if I wanted that, we would never work. How could you be with someone like me, stuck in this suit all the time?"

"I've had a conversation with Mordin," Shepard said. "Asked what it would take for you to be able to spend some time out of your suit. He thinks with enough immune boosters and antibiotics, that there should be a minimum of risk involved."  
  
"But would you be satisfied with that, Shepard?" Tali protested, even as she felt her heart fluttering in her chest. "Are you willing to settle for me?"  
  
"Tali, I wouldn't be 'settling' for anything," Shepard assured her. "I'd be lucky to have someone as wonderful as you."  
  
Shepard pulled Tali into a close embrace, the quarian clutching onto Shepard and sighing into her chest. "But..." Tali offered up one last protest. "What about Ash?"  
  
"What about me?" said a voice from behind them. They whirled to find Ashley walking toward them, her stern face unreadable.  
  
Tali averted her eyes from her former comrade, and former body. "Ash, nothing I say is going to make what I did right. I can never apologize to you enough for what happened. It wasn't Shepard's fault, I..."  
  
"No, Tali, you don't have to take the blame," Shepard said. "Liara explained it to me. The effect that device had on the two of you. But I was in my right mind, I should have been the one to resist, and I didn't. I was..."  
  
"Would you two just shut up for a second?" Ash interrupted. "Look, I've been thinking things over the past few days, and I think I overreacted. I did some things too, when I was in Tali's body, that I probably shouldn't have. So how about we all just put the sorrys behind us, and decide where this thing between us goes next."  
  
Shepard and Tali exchanged a look. "Thing between us?" Shepard asked.  
  
"Being in somebody else's body for a while... kinda makes you examine your own life a little. Shepard, that night before Ilos... I was scared. I had never thought about you in that way before, but now that I've had the chance to think about it, I think I'm ready to give this a try."  
  
"You..." Shepard reacted in delight, but then looked over at Tali and stopped herself. "No, Tali, I didn't say..."  
  
"It's alright, Shepard," Tali said, moving to walk away. "I know you've always wanted Ash. I'll step aside."  
  
Ash looked over at her. "I'd rather you didn't, Tali."  
  
"But if you and Shepard are going to be together, than I..." Tali let out a gasp. "You're not saying..."  
  
"I looked at your nerve-stim software, Tali," Ash admitted. "I know you're attracted to me and Shepard both. And if Shepard is willing, than I'm ready to let you have us both."  
  
Tali struggled to find an answer for this. "Shepard, do you..."  
  
Shepard looked between Tali and Ash, biting her bottom lip. Finally, she nodded. "I'm game if you are, Tali."  
  
"Uh..." Tali stammered, and then let out a nervous giggle. "I have to go. I need to go visit Mordin, get a few shots."  
  
This gave Shepard a chuckle. "See you in my quarters tonight, then?"  
  
"Yeah, I'll see you," Tali said, glancing over at Ashley and adding, "Both of you."  
  
As Tali dashed away to prepare for the night, Shepard turned to Ash. "You're sure about this?"  
  
Ash responded by pulling Shepard in for a long, passionate kiss. As she pulled away, she grinned and remarked. "Just as long as that dildo comes out again."  
  
* * *  
  
While Feron lightly snored, Liara watched the viewscreen in front of her. In the cargo bay of the Normandy, Miranda and Jack were still going strong with the male crew of the Normandy. But Liara's attentions were focused on the image from Shepard's cabin.  
  
Tali was shuddering in anticipation, as a naked Shepard and Ashley slowly stripped her of her protective suit, favoring each bare piece of skin they uncovered with a gentle kiss. Soon enough, the quarian was as bare as the other two women, and the three of them fell back into Shepard's bed, bodies intertwined.  
  
"Delay all of my current appointments," Liara addressed the info drone that hovered by her bed. "I'm going to be leaving for a few days."  
  
It was time for her to get reacquainted with her former shipmates, Liara thought to herself, getting wet just at the thought.


End file.
